( 


MILTON'S 
TRACTATE    ON    EDUCATION, 


SonDon:   C.  J.  CLAY  AND  SONS, 

CAMBRIDGE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS   WAREHOUSE, 

AVE   MARIA   LANE. 


:    DEIGHTON,   BELL,  AND  CO. 
!«tpjig:  F.  A.  BROCKHAUS. 


litt 


mts. 


MILTON'S 


TRACTATE  ON  EDUCATION. 


A   FACSIMILE   REPRINT  FROM  THE   EDITION 

OF    1673. 


EDITED    WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES 


BY 


OSCAR   BROWNING,    M.A. 

FELLOW   AND   LECTURER   OF    KING'S   COLLEGE,    CAMBRIDGE,    AND 
FORMERLY   ASSISTANT   MASTER   AT    ETON   COLLEGE. 


AT   THE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS. 

1890 

\AH  Rights  resei~ved.\ 


PRINTED    BY    C.  J.   CLAY,    M.A.    AND    SONS, 
AT    THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS. 


TO 
JAMES     WARD, 

FELLOW   OF  TRINITY   COLLEGE,    CAMBRIDGE, 

THIS   BOOK  IS   DEDICATED. 


PREFACE. 

MILTON'S  Tractate  on  Education  has  been 
a  favourite  study  of  mine  for  five  and  twenty 
years.  When  I  first  went  as  an  assistant 
master  to  a  large  public  school,  about  the  time 
when  the  Public  Schools  Commission  was 
beginning  to  sit,  it  occurred  to  me  as  an  ardent 
educational  reformer,  that  a  cheap  reprint  of 
Milton's  Tractate  would  have  a  good  effect 
in  clearing  the  thoughts  and  opinions  of  my 
colleagues  and  others  on  the  pressing  question 
of  the  day.  I  had  opened  negotiations  with 
the  school  bookseller  for  executing  a  reprint 
which  I  intended  to  scatter  broadcast  in 
pamphlet  form  through  the  public  schools 
of  England.  My  theories  received  a  rude 


viii  PREFACE. 

shock.  One  of  the  senior  masters  at  my 
school  set  Milton  as  a  subject  for  a  Latin 
theme  to  his  division,  and  told  his  boys  that 
they  were  to  prove  that  Milton,  like  Burke, 
went  mad  in  his  old  age.  I  had  never  heard 
of  this  idea  before,  and  I  asked  the  master 
on  what  grounds  it  rested.  He  replied,  "Did 
he  not  write  a  crack-brained  book  about 
education  in  his  old  age?"  Milton  was  by 
no  means  in  his  old  age  when  he  wrote  the 
Tractate,  but  that  did  not  matter.  I  concluded 
that  my  scheme  would  be  useless,  and  gave 
it  up. 

I  am  now  able  to  carry  out  the  design 
formed  so  long  ago,  under  more  favourable 
auspices.  Milton's  Tractate  is  a  subject  set 
in  the  Teachers'  Certificate  Examination 
of  the  University  of  Cambridge  for  the 
present  year.  As  far  as  I  am  aware,  no 
separate  reprint  of  the  work  exists,  and  it 
therefore  became  necessary  to  prepare  one. 

The  present  edition  is  an  exact  facsimile 
of  the  edition  of  1673,  published  in  Milton's 


PREFACE.  ix 

lifetime.  1  have  carried  the  accuracy  of  the 
facsimile  so  far  as  even  to  reproduce  Milton's 
misprints.  I  have  done  this  because  it  would 
have  in  some  cases  spoilt  the  appearance  and 
the  arrangement  of  the  pages  to  have  cor- 
rected them,  while  in  no  case  are  they  likely 
to  cause  any  difficulty  to  the  reader.  They 
are  all,  I  believe,  mentioned  in  the  notes. 
The  notes  have  been  confined  to  what  ap- 
peared to  be  necessary  for  the  explanation 
of  the  text.  I  have  edited  the  work  as  a 
schoolmaster,  and  not  as  a  philological  student 
of  the  English  language.  By  the  kindness 
of  Messrs  C.  K.  Paul,  Trench  and  Co. 
I  am  able  to  reprint  as  an  Introduction  the 
account  which  I  had  given  of  Milton's  Trac- 
tate in  the  sixth  chapter  of  my  Introduction 
to  the  History  of  Educational  Theories1. 

1  An  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Educational    Theories,  by 
Oscar  Browning,  M.A.     London  :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench  and  Co. 


32? 


. 


INTRODUCTION, 


THE  tractate  of  John  Milton  is  written  in  the 
form  of  a  letter  to  Mr  Samuel  Hartlib,  the  son  of  a 
Polish  merchant  who  resided  mainly  in  London. 
He  was  a  friend  of  every  new  discovery  which 
seemed  likely  to  advance  the  happiness  of  the  hu- 
man race.  He  took  great  interest  in  science,  in 
the  union  of  the  Protestant  Churches,  and  above 
all  in  education.  He  published  in  1651,  'Proposi- 
tions for  the  Erecting  of  a  College  of  Husbandry 
Learning,'  or,  in  modern  phraseology,  an  agricultu- 
ral college,  in  which  he  proposed  that  apprentices, 
received  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  should  after  seven 
years'  instruction  receive  money  to  set  themselves 
up  in  a  farm,  and  a  yearly  payment  for  four  years. 
Also  in  1647,  Sir  William  Petty,  the  founder  of  the 
Lansdowne  family,  wrote  to  Mr  Hartlib  a  letter 
containing  a  scheme  for  a  trade  or  industrial  school, 
a  grand  plan  which  we  may  possibly  see  realised  in 
our  own  day  by  the  establishment  of  a  techno- 
logical university  in  London.  Sir  William  Petty 
says,  '  All  apprentices  might  learn  the  theory  ot 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

their  trades  before  they  are  bound  to  a  master,  and 
consequently  be  exempted  from  the  tedium  of  a 
seven  years'  bondage,  and  having  spent  but  about 
three  years  with  a  master,  may  spend  the  other 
four  in  travelling  to  learn  breeding  and  the  perfec- 
tion of  their  trades.'  To  the  same  category  belongs 
Cowley's  scheme  of  a  philosophical  college,  pub- 
lished in  1 66 1,  the  school  part  of  which  bears  so 
much  resemblance  to  Milton's  scheme  as  to  make 
it  certain  that  Cowley  in  writing  it  must  have  had 
the  former  in  his  mind.  Although  these  plans  were 
never  carried  out,  being  indeed  impossible  in  the 
troubled  times  of  the  Commonwealth  and  ill  suited 
to  the  frivolous  temper  of  the  Restoration,  they 
shew  us  plainly  enough  the  desire  which  was  fer- 
menting in  men's  minds  for  a  better  and  more 
liberal  education.  Had  they  met  with  more  success 
the  English  might  have  been  by  this  time  the  best 
educated  nation  in  Europe. 

It  was  natural  that  Hartlib  should  have  been 
specially  attracted  by  the  writings  of  Comenius, 
the  great  Moravian  teacher,  who  announced  to  his 
age  a  discovery  as  important  as  that  of  Bacon, 
heralded  with  the  same  confidence,  and  promising 
as  great  results.  We  have  seen  that  one  of  the 
most  important  points  on  which  Comenius  insists 
is  the  simultaneous  teaching  of  words  and  things. 
Endless  time  had  been  spent  on  the  mere  routine 
of  language — why  not  at  least  attempt  to  utilise 
this  labour,  and  while  the  drudgery  of  words  and 
sentences  is  proceeding,  take  care  that  what  is 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

learnt  is  worth  remembering  for  itself.  We  shall 
find  these  same  lines  of  thought  running  through 
Milton's  tractate.  Writing  to  Mr  Hartlib,  he 
proceeds  to  set  down  *  that  voluntary  idea,  which 
hath  long  in  silence  presented  itself  to  me,  of  a 
better  education  in  extent  and  comprehension  far 
more  large,  and  yet  of  time  far  shorter  and  of 
attainment  far  more  certain  than  have  yet  been 
in  practice.'  He  asks  his  friend  'to  accept  these 
few  observations  which  have  flowered  off,  and 
are  as  it  were  the  burnishings  of  many  studious 
and  contemplative  years  altogether  spent  in  the 
search  of  civil  and  religious  knowledge,  and  since 
it  pleased  you  so  well  in  the  relating,  I  here  give 
you  them  to  dispose  of.' 

Milton  begins  by  the  principle  that  the  end  of 
learning  is  to  repair  the  sins  of  our  first  parents  by 
regaining  to  know  God  aright ;  and,  because  God 
can  only  be  known  in  His  works,  we  must  by  the 
knowledge  of  sensible  things  arrive  gradually  at 
the  contemplation  of  the  insensible  and  invisible. 
Now  we  must  begin  with  language  ;  but  language 
is  only  the  instrument  conveying  to  us  things 
useful  to  be  known.  No  man  can  be  called 
learned  who  does  not  know  the  solid  things  in 
languages  as  well  as  the  languages  themselves. 
Here  we  see  asserted  the  important  principle  that 
words  and  things  must  go  together,  and  that 

^«>Vknr,      -  O  g> <2 ' 

things  are  more  important  than  words.  The  next 
principle  with  which  we  are  familiar  in  the  writings 
of  Comenius  and  others,  is  that  we  must  proceed 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

from  the  easier  to  the  more  difficult.  We  are 
warned  against  'a  preposterous  exaction,  forcing 
the  empty  wits  of  children  to  compose  themes, 
verses,  and  orations,  which  are  the  acts  of  the 
ripest  judgment.'  Matters  were  indeed  far  worse 
in  Milton's  time  than  they  are  now  in  this  re- 
spect. We  have  to  a  great  extent  thrown  off  the 
tyranny  of  the  grammarians  and  the  schoolmen. 
But  we  are  still  guilty  of  the  '  error  of  misspending 
our  prime  youth  at  the  schools  and  universities 
either  in  learning  mere  words  or  such  things  chiefly 
as  were  better  unlearnt.'  We  have  still  as  much 
need  as  ever  that  someone  should  '  point  us  out 
the  right  path  of  a  virtuous  and  noble  education, 
so  laborious  indeed  at  first  ascent,  but  else  so 
smooth,  so  green,  and  so  full  of  goodly  prospects 
and  melodious  sounds  on  every  side  that  the  harp 
of  Orpheus  was  not  more  charming.' 

Milton  defines  what  he  means  by  education  in 
the  following  words :  *  I  call  a  complete  and  gene- 
rous education  that  which  fits  a  man  to  perform 
justly,  skilfully,  and  magnanimously  all  the  offices, 
both  public  and  private,  of  peace  and  war.'  To 
attain  this  object,  first  a  spacious  house  and 
grounds  about  it  is  to  be  found,  fit  for  an  academy 
to  lodge  about  130  students  under  the  government 
of  one  head.  This  is  to  be  both  school  and  uni- 
versity, to  give  a  complete  education  from  twelve 
to  twenty-one,  not  needing  a  removal  to  any  other 
place  of  learning.  There  is  something  strange  in 
the  idea  of  welding  together  the  school  and  uni- 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  xv 

versity,  but  it  was  more  consonant  to  the  opinions 
and  practice  of  Milton's  own  age.  He  himself 
spent  at  the  university  the  years  between  fourteen 
and  twenty-one ;  the  ordinary  length  of  the  aca- 
demical course  being  seven  years  from  entrance  to 
the  degree  of  M.A.  So  that  his  proposal  is  not  so 
much  to  suppress  the  university  as  the  school. 
Doubtless  he  saw  little  hope  of  reforming  a  large 
body  like  the  university,  or  weaning  it  from  the 
useless  babblements  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy, 
whereas  by  a  private  establishment  such  as  he  de- 
scribes the  reform  might  be  begun  at  once.  We 
must  remember  also  that  the  age  of  entrance  at 
public  schools  is  now  what  the  age  of  entrance 
at  the  university  was  in  Milton's  time;  while  many 
of  our  public  school  boys  do  not  go  to  the  univer- 
sity at  all.  The  plan  advocated  by  Milton  is  in  this 
respect  carried  out  in  France,  and  pupils  graduate 
directly  from  the  lycee,  only  attending  afterwards 
a  special  school  of  law  or  physic.  Such  institutions 
as  Owens  College  at  Manchester  are  doing  pre- 
cisely the  work  which  Milton  recommends. 

Milton  divides  his  scheme  of  education  into 
three  parts:  (i)  Studies;  (2)  Exercises;  (3)  Diet. 
In  order  to  do  justice  to  his  method  we  must 
remember  that  he  does  not  conceive  of  any  educa- 
tion possible  except  through  the  Latin  or  Greek 
tongues.  To  make  his  precepts  useful  to  us  we 
must  tear  aside  this  veil,  and  go  as  deeply  as  we 
can  into  the  principles  which  underlie  his  teaching, 
and  infer  what  he  would  have  recommended  to  us 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

under  a  different  state  of  things.  In  those  days 
Latin  was  the  language  of  the  whole  learned  world. 
A  man  ignorant  of  Latin  would  have  no  access 
to  the  best  books  of  the  age,  and  no  opportunity  of 
communicating  his  thoughts  to  the  world  at  large. 
It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  he  should  recommend 
Latin  grammar  to  be  taught  first,  but  with  the 
Italian  pronunciation  of  the  vowels  such  as  is 
rapidly  making  its  way  amongst  us  at  the  present 
day.  But  here  at  the  outset  the  means  are  sub- 
ordinate to  the  end.  Language  is  to  be  the  vehicle  ) 
of  moral  teaching  for  the  formation  of  a  lofty 
character.  The  Pinax  of  Cebes,  which  as  a  school- 
book  is  coming  now  again  into  favour,  and  which 
advocates  moral  principles  in  simple  language;  the 
moral  works  of  Plutarch,  one  of  the  purest  and 
most  high-minded  of  the  ancients,  and  the  best 
dialogues  of  Plato  are  to  be  read  to  the  youthful 
scholars.  For  here  Milton  says,  'the  main  rule 
and  ground-work  will  be  to  tempt  them  with  such 
lectures  and  explanations  upon  every  opportunity 
as  may  lead  and  draw  them  in  willing  obedience, 
enflamed  with  the  study  of  learning  and  the  admi- 
ration of  virtue,  cheered  up  with  high  hope  of 
living  to  be  brave  men  and  worthy  patriots,  dear 
to  God  and  famous  to  all  ages/  Milton  empha- 
sises the  cardinal  truth  of  education,  that  it  resides 
not  in  the  mechanical  perfection  of  study  and  rou- 
tine, but  in  the  spirit  of  the  teacher  working  in  the 
heart  of  the  pupil.  The  first  step  in  education 
is  to  make  the  pupils  '  despise  and  scorn  all  their 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  xvii 

childish  and  ill-taught  qualities,  to  delight  in  manly 
and  liberal  exercises,  to  infuse  into  their  young 
hearts  such  an  ingenuous  and  noble  ardour  as 
would  not  fail  to  make  many  of  them  renowned 
and  matchless  men.'  Together  with  their  Latin 
exercises,  arithmetic,  and  geometry,  are  to  be 
taught  playing,  fas  the  old  manner  was,'  and  re- 
ligion is  to  occupy  them  before  going  to  bed.  Thus 
ends  the  first  stage  .of  their  education.  It  should 
be  remarked  that  the  Greek  authors,  Cebes,  Plu- 
tarch, and  Plato,  are  to  be  read,  of  course  in  Latin 
translations,  and  that  they  are  to  be  '  read  to '  the 
boys  probably  in  the  manner  recommended  by 
Ratich  and  Ascham.  As  soon  as  they  are  masters 
of  the  rudiments  of  Latin  Grammar  they  are  to 
read  those  treatises,  such  as  Cato,  Varro,  and  Colu- 
mella,  which  are  concerned  with  agriculture.  The 
object  of  this  is  not  only  to  teach  them  Latin 
but  to  incite  and  enable  them  to  improve  the  til- 
lage of  their  country,  to  remove  the  bad  soil  and  to 
remedy  the  waste  that  is  made  of  good.  Then 
after  learning  the  use  of  globes  and  maps,  and  the 
outlines  of  geography,  ancient  and  modern,  they 
are  to  read  some  compendious  method  of  natural 
philosophy.  After  this  they  are  to  begin  Greek, 
but  the  authors  read  have  reference  to  natural 
science,  which  is  at  this  period  the  staple  of  their 
education.  When  in  their  mathematical  studies 
they  have  reached  trigonometry,  that  will  intro- 
duce them  to  fortification,  architecture,  engineering, 
and  navigation.  They  are  to  proceed  in  the  study 

B.  2 


xviii  INTRODUCTION. 

of  nature  as  far  as  anatomy,  and  they  are  to  ac- 
quire the  principles  of  medicine  that  they  may 
know  the  tempers,  the  humours3  the  seasons,  and 
how  to  manage  a  crudity.  No  advocate  of  scien- 
tific education  could  have  sketched  out  a  more 
comprehensive  plan  of  study  in  these  departments. 

Then  follows  a  suggestion  which  has  often  been 
made  by  educational  theorists,  but  not  often  tried. 
There  are  some  minds  which  are  inaccessible  to 
purely  abstract  knowledge  ;  learning  takes  no  hold 
on  them  unless  it  is  connected  with  doing,  and  it 
has  occurred  to  many  that,  if  to  the  whole  cur- 
riculum of  science  there  could  be  added  a  cur- 
riculum of  practice,  few  pupils  would  be  found 
incapable  of  receiving  intellectual  education.  We 
find  this  feature  in  the  Psedagogic  Province  of 
Goethe's  '  Wilhelm  Meister/  and  the  few  occasions 
on  which  it  has  been  tried  give  encouragement  for 
its  further  use.  Milton  accepts  it  without  reserve. 
'To  set  forward  all  these  proceedings  in  nature 
and  mathematics,  what  hinders  but  they  may  pro- 
cure, as  oft  as  shall  be  needful,  the  helpful  ex- 
periences of  hunters,  fowlers,  fishermen,  shepherds, 
gardeners,  apothecaries,  and,  in  the  other  sciences, 
architects,  engineers,  anatomists,  who,  doubtless, 
would  be  ready,  some  for  reward  and  some  to 
favour  such  a  hopeful  seminary.  And  this  will 
give  them  such  a  real  tincture  of  natural  know- 
ledge as  they  will  never  forget,  but  daily  augment 
with  delight.' 

These   rudimentary    studies,    classical,    mathe- 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

matical,  and  practical,  may  be  supposed  to  have 
occupied  them  to  the  age  of  sixteen,  when  they  are 
for  the  first  time  to  be  introduced  to  graver  and 
harder  topics.  'As  they  begin  to  acquire  charac- 
ter, and  to  reason  on  the  difference  between  good 
and  evil,  there  will  be  required  a  constant  and 
sound  indoctrinating  to  set  them  right  and  firm, 
instructing  them  more  amply  in  the  knowledge 
of  virtue  and  the  hatred  of  vice.  For  this  purpose 
their  young  and  pliant  affections  are  to  be  led 
through  the  moral  works  of  Plato,  Xenophon,  Cice- 
ro, and  Plutarch,  but  in  their  nightvvard  studies'" 
they  are  to  submit  to  the  more  determinate  sen- 
tence of  Holy  Writ.'  Thus  they  will  have  tra- 
yersed  the  circle  of  ethical  teaching.  During  this 
and  the  .preceding  stage,  poetry  is  to  be  read  as  an 
amusement,  and  as  a  golden  fringe  to  the  practice 
of  serious  labour.  'And  either  now,'  Milton  re- 
marks, '  or  before  this,  they  may  have  easily  learnt, 
at  any  odd  hour,  the  Italian  tongue.'  This  sen- 
tence has  often  been  quoted  to  shew  how  visionary 
and  baseless  Milton's  idea  of  education  was.  But 
experience  is  here  in  his  favour,  and  those  who 
have  tried  the  experiment  are  well  aware  that 
Italian  may  easily  be  learnt  by  intelligent  and 
studious  boys  with  little  expenditure  of  time  or 
interruption  of  other  studies.  Ethics  is  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  politics.  After  the  foundation  of  their 
character  and  principles,  then  is  to  follow  their 
education  as  citizens.,-  They  are  to  learn  'the  be- 
ginning, end,  and  reason  of  political  societies  •  that 

2 — 2 


xx  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

they  may  not  in  a  dangerous  fit  of  the  Common- 
wealth be  such  poor,  shaken,  uncertain  reeds,  of 
such  a  tottering  conscience  as  many  of  our  good 
councillors  have  of  late  shewed  themselves,  but 
steadfast  pillars  of  the  State.'  The  study  of  law  is 
to  come  next,  including  all  the  Roman  edicts,  and 
tables  with  Justinian,  and  also  the  Saxon  law,  and 
common  law  of  England,  and  the  statutes  ©f  the 
realm.  'Sundays  also  and  every  evening  may  be 
now  understandingly  spent  in  the  highest  matters 
of  theology,  and  Church  history,  ancient  and  mo- 
dern.' By  the  age  of  eighteen  Hebrew  will  have 
been  learnt,  and  possibly  Syrian  and  Chaldaic. 
Tragedy  will  be  read  and  learned  in  close  con- 
nection with  political  oratory.  '  These,  if  got  by 
memory  and  solemnly  pronounced  with  right  ac- 
cent and  grace,  as  might  be  taught,  would  endue 
them  even  with  the  spirit  and  vigour  of  Demos- 
thenes or  Cicero,  Euripides  or  Sophocles.'  When 
their  minds  are  truly  stored  with  this  wealth  of 
learning,  they  are  at  length  to  acquire  the  art  of 
expression,  both  in  writing  and  in  speech.  '  From 
henceforth,  and  not  till  now,  will  be  the  right 
season  for  forming  them  to  be  able  writers  and 
composers  in  every  excellent  matter,  when  they 
shall  be  thus  fraught  with  an  universal  insight  into 
things.'  Thus  ends  this  magnificent  and  compre- 
hensive scheme.  '  These  are  the  studies  wherein 
our  noble  and  our  gentle  youth '  (observe  that 
Milton  is  thinking  of  the  education  of  a  gentleman) 
'  ought  to  bestow  their  time  in  a  disciplinary  way 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  xxi 

from  twelve  to  one-and-twenty,  unless  they  rely 
more  upon  their  ancestors  dead  than  upon  them- 
selves living.  In  the  which  methodical  course  it  is 
so  supposed  they  must  proceed  by  the  steady 
pace  of  learning  onward,  as  in  convenient  times  to 
retire  back  into  the  middle  ward,  and  sometimes 
into  the  rear  of  what  they  have  been  taught,  until 
they  Tiave  confirmed  and  solidly  united  the  whole 
body  of  their  perfected  knowledge  like  the  last 
embattelling  of  a  Roman  legion.' 

One  of  the  main  hopes  of  the  improvement  of 
education  lies  in  adopting  the  truth  that  manly 
and  serious  studies  are  capable  of  being  handled 
and  mastered  by  intelligent  schoolboys.  We  might 
have  hoped  that  the  publication  of  John  Stuart 
Mill's  '  Autobiography '  would  have  led  to  the  imi- 
tation of  the  method  by  which  he  gained  a  start  ol 
twenty  years  over  his  contemporaries  in  the  race 
of  life.  It  seems  to  have  produced  the  contrary 
effect.  But  no  one  can  read  Mill's  letters  to  Sir 
S.  Bentham  without  acknowledging  that  he  had 
done  at  the  age  of  thirteen  nearly  as  much  as  Mil- 
ton expected  from  his  matured  students.  Mill  was 
reading  Thucydides,  Euclid,  and  algebra  at  eight, 
Pindar  and  conic  sections  at  nine,  trigonometry  at 
ten,  Aristotle  at  eleven,  optics  and  fluxions  at 
twelve,  logic  and  political  economy  at  thirteen.  He 
had  also  by  this  time  written  two  histories  and  a 
tragedy.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
studies  thus  early  acquired  did  not  form  an  inte- 
gral part  of  his  mind,  or  that  when  writing  his 


xxii  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

standard  works  on  logic  and  political  economy,  or 
sketching  a  complete  scheme  of  education  at  St 
Andrew's,  he  was  not  using  the  knowledge  which 
he  had  acquired  in  these  very  tender  years. 

The  physical  exercise  proposed  by  Milton  for 
his  students  is  of  an  equally  practical  character, 
and  differs  widely  from  the  laborious  toiling  at 
unproductive  games,  which  is  the  practice  of  our 
own  day.  With  him  amusement,  emulation,  bodily 
skill,  the  cheerfulness  of  bright  companionship,  are 
all  pressed  into  the  service  of  practical  life.  Dinner 
is  taken  at  noon,  and  about  an  hour  or  an  hour 
and  a  half  before  that  meal  is  to  be  allowed  them 
for  exercise,  and  rest  afterwards.  The  first  exer- 
cise recommended  is  '  the  use  of  the  sword,  to 
guard  and  to  strike  safely  with  edge  or  point. 
This  will  keep  them  healthy,  nimble,  strong,  and 
well  in  breath,  is  also  the  likeliest  means  to  make 
them  grow  large  and  tall,  and  to  inspire  them  with 
a  gallant  and  fearless  courage.'  They  are  also  to 
be  practised  in  '  all  the  locks  and  gripes  of  wrest- 
ling.' After  about  an  hour  of  such  exercise,  during 
the  needful  repose  which  precedes  their  mid-day 
meal,  they  may  '  with  profit  and  delight  be  taken 
up  in  recruiting  and  composing  their  travailed 
spirits  with  the  solemn  and  divine  harmonies  of 
music,  heard  or  learnt,  either  while  the  skilful  or- 
ganist plies  his  grave  and  fancied  descant  in  lofty 
fugues,  or  the  whole  symphony  with  artful  and 
unimaginable  touches  adorn  and  grace  the  well- 
studied  chords  of  some  choice  composer.  Some- 


1NTR  OD  UCTION.  xxiii 

times  the  lute  or  soft  organ- stop,  waiting  on  elegant 
voices  either  to  religious,  martial,  or  civil  ditties, 
which,  if  wise  men  and  prophets  be  not  extremely 
\l  out,  have  a  great  power  over  dispositions  and  man- 
ners, to  smooth  and  make  them  gentle  from  rustic 
harshness  and  distempered  passions.'  The  same 
rest,  with  the  same  accompaniment,  is  to  follow 
after  food.  About  two  hours  before  supper,  which 
I  suppose  would  be  at  about  seven  or  eight  o'clock, 
'  they  are  by  a  sudden  alarum  or  watchword  to 
be  called  out  to  their  military  motions  under  sky 
or  covert,  according  to  the  season,  as  was  the  Ro- 
man wont,  first  on  foot,  then,  as  their  age  permits, 
on  horseback,  to  all  the  arts  of  cavalry ;  that  hav- 
ing in  sport,  but  with  much  exertion  and  daily 
muster,  served  out  the  rudiments  of  their  soldier- 
ship in  all  the  skill  of  encamping,  marching,  em- 
battelling,  fortifying,  besieging  and  battering,  with 
all  the  help  of  ancient  and  modern  stratagems, 
tactics,  and  warlike  maxims,  they  may,  as  it  were, 
out  of  a  long  war  come  forth  renowned  and  perfect 
commanders  in  the  service  of  their  country.'  Mil- 
ton had  good  reason  to  desire  the  formation  of 
the  nucleus  of  a  citizen  army,  and  much  service 
might  be  rendered  by  a  school  rifle  corps  if  they 
were  organised  on  a  more  serious  and  laborious 
model. 

In  Milton's  institution  the  vacations  were  in- 
tended to  be  short,  but  the  time  was  not  all  to  be 
spent  in  work  without  a  break.  '  In  those  vernal 
seasons  of  the  year,  when  the  air  is  calm  and 


xxiv  INTR  OD  UCTION. 

pleasant,  it  were  an  injury  and  sullenness  against 
nature  not  to  go  out  and  see  her  riches,  and  par- 
take in  her  rejoicing  with  heaven  and  earth.  I 
should  not  therefore  be  a  persuader  to  them  of 
studying  much  then,  after  two  or  three  years,  that 
they  have  well  laid  their  grounds,  but:  to  ride  out  in 
companies  with  prudent  and  staid  guides  into  all 
quarters  of  the  land,  learning  and  observing  al 
places  of  strength,  all  commodities  of  building  and 
of  soil  for  towns  and  villages,  harbours  and  ports  of 
trade ;  sometimes  taking  sea  as  far  as  our  navy, 
to  learn  also  what  they  can  in  the  practical  know- 
ledge of  sailing  and  sea  fights.  These  journeys 
would  try  all  their  peculiarities  of  nature,  and  if 
there  were  any  such  excellence  among  them  would 
fetch  it  out,  and  give  it  fair  opportunities  to  ad- 
vance itself  by/  'This/  he  says,  'will  be  much 
better  than  asking  Monsieur  of  Paris  to  take  our 
hopeful  youths  into  their  slight  and  prodigal  cus- 
tody, and  send  them  back  transformed  into  mimics, 
apes  and  kickshoes.'  Travelling  abroad  is  to  be 
deferred  to  the  age  of  three-and-twenty,  when 
they  will  be  better  able  to  profit  by  it.  In  Milton's 
time  communication  was  far  more  difficult  than  it 
is  now.  Not  only  was  a  short  trip  on  the  Conti- 
nent out  of  the  question,  but  even  travelling  in 
England  was  laborious  and  slow.  Yet  even  in 
these  days  our  young  statesmen  are  profoundly 
ignorant  of  the  country  to  which  they  belong,  and 
a  knowledge  of  its  character  and  resources  should 
be  the  first  foundation  of  sound  political  wisdom. 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  xxv 

In  our  own  day  we  might  go  so  far  as  to  regard 
a  knowledge  of  the  whole  world  as  the  fitting  con- 
clusion to  a  liberal  education,  and  Milton,  if  he 
were  writing  now,  might  recommend  an  educa- 
tional cruise  such  as  has  been  attempted  in  Ameri- 
ca and  France.  Of  diet,  his  last  division,  Milton 
tells  us  nothing  except  that  it  should  be  in  the 
same  house,  and  that  it  should  be  plain,  healthful, 
and  moderate. 

In  conclusion  Milton  anticipates  some  of  the 
objections  which  might  be  raised  against  his  plan, 
on  the  score  of  its  impracticability,  or  its  aiming  at 
too  high  a  standard.  He  admits  that  a  scheme 
of  this  kind  cannot  be  carried  out  except  under 
the  most  favourable  conditions,  with  teachers,  and 
scholars  above  the  average.  '  I  believe,'  he  says, 
'  that  this  is  not  a  bow  for  every  man  to  shoot  in, 
that  counts  himself  a  teacher;  but  will  require 
sinews  almost  equal  to  those  which  Homer  gave 
Ulysses  ;  yet  I  am  withal  persuaded  that  it  may 
prove  much  more  easy  in  the  essay  than  it  now 
seems  at  a  distance,  and  much  more  illustrious, 
howbeit,  not  more  difficult  than  I  imagine,  and 
that  imagination  presents  me  with  nothing  else, 
but  very  happy  and  very  possible,  according  to 
best  wishes,  if  God  have  so  decreed,  and  this  age 
have  spirit  and  capacity  enough  to  apprehend.' 


^ 

>•*• 

[UHITERSITY 


/ 


r.SAT/: e£*£~,  f.ZJgr.  r^ftM r1E4£« 


To  Master  Samuel  Hartlib. 


Written    above    twenty    Years    since. 


Mr.  Hartlib, 

Am  long  since  perswaded,  that  to 
say,  or  do  ought  worth  memory 
and  imitation,  no  purpose  or  re- 
spect should  sooner  move  us,  then 
simply  the  love  of  God,  and  of 
mankind.  Nevertheless  to  write  now  the  re- 
forming of  Education,  though  it  be  one  of  the 
greatest  and  noblest  designs  that  can  be  thought 
on,  and  for  the  want  whereof  this  Nation 
perishes,  I  had  not  yet  at  this  time  been  in- 
due't,  but  by  your  earnest  entreaties,  and 
serious  conjurements  ;  as  having  my  mind  for 
the  present  half  diverted  in  the  pursuance  of 
some  other  assertions,  the  knowledge  and  the 
use  of  which,  cannot  but  be  a  great  furthe- 
rance both  to  the  enlargement  of  truth,  and 

honest 


(O 

honest  living,  with  much  more  peace.  Nor 
should  the  laws  of  any  private  friendship  have 
prevail'd  with  me  to  divide  thus,  or  transpose 
my  former  thoughts,  but  that  I  see  those  aims, 
those  actions  which  have  won  vou  with  me  the 

J 

esteem  of  a  person  sent  hither  by  some  good 
providence  from  a  far  country  to  be  the  occa- 
sion and  the  incitement  of  great  good  to  this 
Island.  And,  as  I  hear,  you  have  obtain'd  the 
same  repute  with  men  of  most  approved  wis- 
dom, and  some  of  highest  authority  among  us. 
Not  to  mention  the  learned  correspondence 
which  you  hold  in  forreign  parts,  and  the  ex- 
traordinary pains  and  diligence  which  you 
have  us'd  in  this  matter  both  here,  and  beyond 
the  Seas  ;  either  by  the  definite  will  of  God  so 
ruling,  or  the  peculiar  sway  of  nature,  which 
also  is  Gods  working.  Neither  can  I  think  that 
so  reputed,  and  so  valu'd  as  you  are,  you  would 
to  the  forfeit  of  your  own  discerning  ability, 
impose  upon  me  an  unfit  and  over-ponderous 
argument,  but  that  the  satisfaction  which  you 
profess  to  have  receiv'd  from  those  incidental 
Discourses  which  we  have  wander'd  into,  hath 
prest  and  almost  constrain'd  you  into  a  per- 
swasion,  that  what  you  require  from  me  in  this 
point,  I  neither  ought,  nor  can  in  conscience 
deferre  beyond  this  time  both  of  so  much  need 

at 


(3) 

at  once,  and  so  much  opportunity  to  try  what 
God  hath  determin'd.     I  will  not  resist  there- 
fore,  whatever  it  is  either   of  divine,  or  hu- 
mane obligement  that  you  lay  upon  me  ;  but^ 
will  forthwith    set   down   in   writing,  as  you 
request  me,  that  voluntary  Idea,  which  hath 
long  in  silence  presented  it  self  to  me,  of  a  bet- 
ter Education,  in  extent  and  comprehension 
far  more  large,  and  yet  of  time  far  shorter, 
and  of  attainment  far  more  certain,  then  hath 
been  yet  in  practice.     Brief  I  shall  endeavour  v 
to  be ;  for  that  which  I  have  to  say,  assuredly 
this  Nation  hath  extream  need  should  be  done 
sooner  then  spoken.      To  tell  you  therefore 
what  I  have  benefited  herein  among  old  re- 
nowned Authors,  I  shall  spare  ;  and  to  search  ^ 
what  many  modern  Januas^^  Didactics  more"* 
then  ever  I  shall  read,  have  projected,  my  in- 
clination leads  me  not.      But  if  you  can  accept 
of  these  few  observations  which  have  flowr'dv 
Q$+  and  are,  as  it  were,  the  burnishing_of  many  v 
studious  and  contemplative  years  altogether 
spent  in  the  search  of  religious  and  civil  know- 
ledge, and  such  as  pleas'd  you  so  well  in  the 
relating,  I  here  give  you  them  to  dispose  of. 
\  The  end  then  of  Learning  is  to  repair  the  v\ 
ruines  of  our  first  Parents  by  regaining  to  know 
God  aright,  and  out  of  that  knowledge  to  love 

him, 


(4) 

him,  to  imitate  him,  to  be  like  him,  as  we  may 
the  neerest  by  possessing  our  souls  of  true  ver- 
tue,  which  being  united  to  the  heavenly  grace 


of  faith  makes  up  the  highest  perfection.)  But 
because  our  understanding  cannot  in  this  body 
found  it  self  but  on  sensible  things,  nor  arrive 
so  clearly  to  the  knowledge  of  God  and  things 
invisible,  as  by  orderly  conning  over  the  vi- 
sible and  inferior  creature,  the  same  method 
is  necessarily  to  be  follow'd  in  all  discreet 
<v  teaching.  And  seeing  every  Nation  affords 
not  experience  and  tradition  enough  for  all 
kind  of  Learning,  therefore  we  are  chiefly 
taught  the  Languages  of  those  people  who 
have  at  any  time  been  most  industrious  after 
Wisdom  ;  i^o  that  Language  is  but  the  Instru-] 
ment  conveying  to  us  things  usefiill  to  be' 
known.  YAnd  though  a  Linguist  should  pride 
himself  to  have  all  the  Tongues  that  Babel  cleft 
the  world  into,  yet,  if  he  have  not  studied  the 
solid  things  in  them  as  well  as  the  Words  &  Le- 
xicons, he  were  nothing  so  much  to  be  esteem'd 
a  learned  man,  as  any  Yeoman  or  Tradesman 
competently  wise  in  his  Mother  Dialect  onlyA 
Hence  appear  the  many  mistakes  which  have 
made  Learning  generally  so  unpleasing  and 
so  unsuccessful;  first  we  do  amiss  to  spend  seven 
or  eight  years  meerly  in  scraping  together  so 

much 


(5) 

much  miserable  Latine  and  Greek,  as  might  be  | 
learnt  otherwise^easiT)Tand  delightfully  in  one 
year,  ^And  that  which  casts  our  proficiency 
therein  so  much  behind,  is  our  time  lost  partly  in 
too  oft  idle  vacancies  given  both  to  Schools  and 
Universities,  partly  in  a  preposterous  exaction, 
forcing  the  empty  wits  of  Children  to  compose 
Theams,  Verses  and  Orations,  which  are  the 
acts  of  ripest  judgment  and  the  final  work  of  a 
head  fill'd  by  long  reading  and  observing, 
with  elegant  maxims,  and  copious  invention.^ 
These  are  not  matters  to  be  wrung  from  poor 
striplings,  like  blood  out  of  the  Nose,  or  the 
plucking  of  untimely  fruit :  besides  the  ill  habit 
which  they  get  of  wretched  barbarizing  against 
the  Latin  and  Greek  idiom,  with  their  untu- 
tor'd  Anglicisms,  odious  to  be  read,  yet  not  to 
be  avoided  without  a  well  continu'd  and  judi- 
cious conversing  among  pure  Authors  digested, 
which  they  scarce  taste./whereas,  if  after  some 
preparatory  grounds  of  speech  by  their  certain 
forms  got  into  memory,  they  were  led  to  the 
praxis  thereof  in  some  chosen  short  book  les- 
son'd  throughly  to  them,  they  might  then  forth- 
with proceed  to  learn  the  substance  of  good 
things,  and  Arts  in  due  order,  which  would 
bring  the  whole  language  quickly  into  their 
power..  This  I  take  to  be  the  most  rational 

and 


(6) 

I 

and  most  profitable  way  of  learning  Languages, 
and  whereby  we  may  best  hope  to  give  account 
to  God  of  our  youth  spent  herein : /And  for  the 
usual  method  of  teaching  Arts,  I  deem  it  to  be 
an  old  errour  of  Universities  not  yet  well  re- 
cover'd  from  the  Scholastick  grossness  of  bar- 
barous ages,  that  in  stead  of  beginning  with 
\  Arts  most  easie,  and  those  be  such  as  are  most 

I 

i  obvious  to  the  sence,  they  present  their  young 
unmatriculated  Novices  at  first  comming  with 
the  most  intellective  abstractions  of  Logick  and 
Metaphysicks\  So  that  they  having  but  newly 
left  those  Grammatick  flats  and  shallows  where 
they  stuck  unreasonably  to  learn  a  few  words 
with  lamentable  construction,  and  now  on  the 
sudden  transported  under  another  climate  to 
be  tost  and  turmoil'd  with  their  unballasted 
wits  in  fadomless  and  unquiet  deeps  of  contro- 
versie,  do  for  the  most  part  grow  into  hatred 
and  contempt  of  Learning,  mockt  and  delu- 
ded all  this  while  with  ragged  Notions  and 
Babblements,  while  they  expected  worthy 
and  delightful  knowledge ;  till  poverty  or 
youthful  years  call  them  importunately  their 
several  wayes,  and  hasten  them  with  the  sway 
of  friends  either  to  an  ambitious  and  merce- 
nary, or  ignorantly  zealous  Divinity  ;  Some 
allur'd  to  the  trade  of  Law,  grounding  their 

purposes 


(7) 

purposes  not  on  the  prudent  and  heavenly  con- 
templation of  justice  and  equity  which  was 
never  taught  them,  but  on  the  promising  and 
pleasing  thoughts  of  litigious  terms,  fat  con- 
tentions and  flowing  fees  ;  others  betake  them 
to  State  affairs,  with  souls  so  unprincipl'd  in 
vertue,  and  true  generous  breeding,  that 
flattery,  and  Court  shifts  and  tyrannous  Apho- 
risms appear  to  them  the  highest  points  of 
wisdom  ;  instilling  their  barren  hearts  with  a 
conscientious  slavery,  if,  as  I  rather  think,  it 
be  not  fain'd.  Others  lastly  of  a  more  deli- 
cious and  airie  spirit,  retire  themselves  know- 
ing no  better,  to  the  enjoyments  of  ease  and 
luxury,  living  out  their  daies  in  feast  and 
jollity ;  which  indeed  is  the  wisest  and  the 
safest  course  of  all  these,  unless  they  were  with 
more  integrity  undertaken.  'And  these  are  the 
fruits  of  mispending  our  prime  youth  at  the 
Schools  and  Universities  as  we  do,  either  in 

learning-  meer  words  or  such  things  chiefly,  as 

•**  _ 

were  better  unlearnt. 

i 

I  shall  detain  you  no  longer  in  the  demon- 
stration  of  what  we  should  not  do,  but  strait 
conduct  ye  to  a  hill  side,  where  I  will  point  ye 
out  the  right  path  of  a  vertuous  and  noble 
Education;  laborious  indeed  at  the  first  ascent, 
but  else  so  smooth,  so  green,  so  full  of  goodly 

prospect, 

B. 


(8) 

prospect,  and  melodious  sounds  on  every  side, 
that  the  Harp  of  Orpheus  was  not  more  charm- 
ing.    I  doubt  not  but  ye  shall  have  more  adoe 
to  drive  our  dullest  and    laziest    youth,    our 
stocks  and  stubbs  from  the  infinite  desire  of 
such  a  happy  nurture,  then  we  have  now  to 
hale  and  drag  our  choicest  and  hopefullest  Wits 
to  that  asinine  feast  of  sowthistles  and  brambles 
.which  is  commonly  set  before  them,  as  all  the 
food  and  entertainment  of  their  tenderest  and 
^most  docible  age.(  I  call  therefore  a  compleat 
1  and  generous  Education  that  which  fits  a  man 
i  to  perform  justly,  skilfully  and  magnanimously 
\  all  the  offices  both  private  and  publick  of  Peace 
land  War.     And  how  all  this  may  be  done  be- 
tween twelve,  and  one  and  twenty,  less  time 
then  is  now  bestow'd  in  pure  trifling  at  Gram- 
j   mar  and  Sophistry,  is  to  be  thus  order'd.) 

^^ 

p-    (First  to  find  out  a  spatious  house  and  ground^ 
about  it  fit  for  an  Academy,  and  big  enough 
to  lodge  a  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  whereof 
twenty  or  thereabout  may  be  attendants,  all 
under  the  orovernment  of  one,  who  shall  be 

O  ' 

thought  of  desert  sufficient,  and  ability  either  , 
to  do  all,  or  wisely  to  direct,  and  oversee  it 
done.      This   place  should    be    at  once  both 
School  and  University,  not  heeding  a  remove 
to  any  other  house  of  Schollership,  except  it 

be 


(9) 

be  some  peculiar  Colledge  of  Law,  or  Physick, 
where  they  mean  to  be  practitioners^  but  as 
for  those  general  studies  which  take  up  all  our 
time  from  Lilly  to  the  commencing,  as  they 
term  it,  Master  of  Art,  it  should  be  absolute. 
After  this  pattern,  as  many  Edifices  may  be 
converted  to  this  use,  as  shall  be  needful  in 
every  City  throughout  this  Land,  which  would 
tend  much  to  the  encr^ase  of  Learning  and 
Civility  every  where.  This  number,  less  or 
m.ore  thus  collected,  to  the  convenience  of  a 
foot  Company,  or  interchangeably  two  Troops 
of  Cavalry/  should  divide  their  daies  work 
into  three  parts,  as  it  lies  orderly.  TheiriStu  • 
dies,  their  Exercise,  and  their  Diet. 

For  their  Studies,  Eirst  they  should  begin  ~\ 
with  the  chief  and  necessary  rules  of  some 
good  Gramnjar,  either  that  now  us'd,  or  any 
better  :  and  while  this  is  doing,  their  speech 
is  to  be  fashion'd  to  a  distinct  and  clear  pro- 
nuntiation,  as  near  as  may  be  to  the  Italian, 
especially  in  the  VowelsN  For  we  Englishmen 
being  far  Northerly,  do  not  open  our 
mouths  in  the  cold  air,  wide  enough  to  grace  a 
Southern  Tongue  ;  but  are  observ'd  by  all 
other  Nations  to  speak  exceeding  close  and 
inward  :  So  that  to  smatter  Latine  with  an 
English  mouth,  is  as  ill  a  hearing  as  Law- 
French. 


French,  ^sfext  to  make  them  expert  in  the 
usefullest  points  of  Grammar,  and  withall  to 
season  them,  and  win  them  early  to  the  love 
of  vertue  and  true  labour,] ere  any  flatter- 
ing seducement,  or  vain  principle  seise  them 
wandering,  some  easie  and  delightful  Book  of 
Education  would  be  read  to  them  ;  whereof 
the  Greeks  have  store,  as  Cebes,  Plutarch,  and 
other  Socratic  discourses.  But  in  Latin  we  have 
none  of  classic  authority  extant,  except  the  two 

or  three  first  Books  of  Ouintilian,  and  some 

/ 

select  pieces  elsewhere.  (  But  here  the  main 

skill  and  groundwork  will  be,  to  temper  them 
such  Lectures  and  Explanations  upon  every 
opportunity,  as  may  lead  and  draw  them  In. 
willing  obedience,  enflam'd  with  the  study  of 
Learning,  and  the  admiration  of  Vertue ; 
stirr'd  up  with  high  hopes  of  living  to  be  brave 
men,  and  worthy  Patriots,  dear  to  God,  and 
famous  to  all  ages.  (That  they  may  despise  and 
scorn  all  their  childish,  and  ill-taught  qualities, 
.to  delight  in  manly,  and  liberal  Exercises^) 
which  he  who  hath  the  Art,  and  proper  Elo- 
quence to  catch  them  with,  what  with  mild 
and  effectual  perswasions,  and  what  with  the 
intimation  of  some  fear,  if  need  be,  but  chiefly 
by  his  own  example,  might  in  a  short  space 
£ain  them  to  an  incredible  diligence  and  cou- 

O  O 


rage 


(II) 

rage  :  infusing  into  their  young  brests  such  an 
ingenuous  and  noble  ardor,  as  would  not  fail 

o 

to  make  many  of  them  renowned  and  match^j 
less  men.     At  the  same  time,  some  other  hour'l 
of  the  day,  might  be  taught  them  the  rules  of 
Arithmetick,  and  soon  after  the  Elements  of 
Geometry  even_playing,  as  the  old   manner_j 
was. )  After  evening  repast,  till  bed-time  theiO 

thoughts  will  be  best  taken  up  in  the  easie 
„ 

grounds  of  Religion,  and  the  story  of  Scrip- 
ture. The  next  step  would  be  to  the  Authors 
Agriculture,  Cato,  Varro,  and  Columella,  for 
the  matter  is  most  easie,  and  if  the  language 
be  difficult,  so  much  the  better,  it  is  not  a 
difficulty  above  their  years.  And  here  will  be 
an  occasion  of  inciting  and  inabling  them  here- 
after to  improve  the  tillage  of  their  Country, 
to  recover  the  bad  Soil,  and  to  remedy  the 
waste  that  is  made  of  good :  for  this  was  one  of 
Hercules  praises.  Ere  half  these  Authors  be 
read  (which  will  soon  be  with  plying  hard, 
and  daily)  they  cannot  chuse  but  be  masters  of 
any  ordinary  prose.  So  that  it  will  be  then 
seasonable  for  them  to  learn  in  any  modern 
Author,  the  use  of  the  Globes,  and  all  the 
Maps  ;  first  with  the  old  names,  and  then  with 
the  new  :  or  they  might  be  then  capable  to 
read  any  compendious  method  of  natural  Phi- 
losophy. 


(12) 

losophy.     And  at  the  same  time  might  be  en- 
tering into  the  Greek  tongue,  after  the  same 

o  o 

manner  as  was  before  prescrib'd  in  the  Latin ; 
whereby  the  difficulties  of  Grammar  being 
soon  overcome,  all  the  Historical  Physiology 
of  Aristotle  and  Theophrastus  are  open  before 
them,  and  as  I  may  say,  under  contribution. 
The  like  access  will  be  to  VitruviuS^  to  Seneca  s 
natural  questions,  to  Mela,  Celsus,  Pliny,  or 
Solinus\  And  having  thus  past  the  principles 
of  Arithmetic^  Geometry,  Astronomy,  and 
Geography  with  a  general  compact  of  Physicks, 
they  may  descend  in  Mathematicks  to  the  in- 
strumental science  of  Trigonometry,  and  from 
thence  to  Fortification,  Architecture,  Enginry, 
or  Navigation.  And  in  natural  Philosophy 
they  may  proceed  leisurely  from  the  History  of 
Meteors,  Minerals,  plants  and  living  Creatures 
as  far  as  Anatomy.  3  Then  also  in  course  might 
be  read  to  them  out  of  some  not  tedious  Writer 
the  Institution  of  Physick;  that  they  may  know 
the  tempers,  the  humours,  the  seasons,  and  how 
to  manage  a  crudity :  which  he  who  can  wisely 
and  timely  do,  is  not  only  a  great  Physitian  to 
himself,  and  to  his  friends,  but  also  may  at 
some  time  or  other,  save  an  Army  by  this  fru- 
gal and  expenseless  means  only  ;  and  not  let 
the  healthy  and  stout  bodies  of  young  men  rot 

away 


away  under  him  for  want  of  this  discipline; 
which  is  a  great  pity,  and  no  less  a  shame  to 
the  Commander.  To  set  forward  all  these 
proceedings  in  Nature  and  Mathematicks,  what 
hinders,  but  that  they  may  procure,  as  oft  as  shal 
be  needful,  the  helpful  experiences  of  Hunters, 
Fowlers, Fishermen,Shepherds,Gardeners,  Apo- 
thecaries; and  in  the  other  sciences,  Architects, 
Engineers,  Mariners,  Anatomists;  who  doubt- 
less would  be  ready  some  for  reward,  and 
some  to  favour  such  a  hopeful  Seminary.  And 
this  will  eive  them  'such  a  real  tincture  of  na- 

o 

tural  knowledge,  as  they  shall  never  forget, 
but  daily  augment  with  delight.  Then  also 
those  Poets  which  are  now  counted  most  hard, 
will  be  both  facil  and  pleasant,  Orpheus,  Hesiod, 
T}ieocritiis,Aratns,Nicander,Oppian,Dionysius, 
and  in  Latin  Lucretius,  Manilius>  and  the  rural  / 
part  of  Virgil. 

By  this  time,  years  and  good  general  pre- 
cepts will  have  furnisht  them  more  distinctly 
with  that  act  of  reason  which  in  Ethicks  is  call'd 
Proairesis:  that  they  may  with  some  judgement 
contemplate  upon  moral  good  and  evil.  vTnen  \ 
will  be  requir'd  a  special  reinforcement  of 
constant  and  sound  endoctrinating  to  set  them 
right  and  firm,  instructing  them  more  amply 
in  the  knowledge  of  Vertue  and  the  hatred  of 

Vice : 


(14) 

Vice  :;  while  their  young  and  pliant  affecti- 
ons are  led  through  all  the  moral  works  of 
Plato,  Xenophon,Cicero,  Plutarch,  Laertius,  and 
those  Locnan  remnants;  but  still  to  be  reduc't 
in  their  nightward  studies  wherewith  they 
close  the  dayes  work,  under  the  determinate 
sentence  of  David  or  Salomon,  or  the  Evanges 
and  Apostolic  Scriptures./Being  perfect  in  the 
knowledge  of  personal  ctuty,  they  may  then 
begin  the  study  of  Economics.  And  either 
now,  or  before  this,  they  may  have  easily  learnt 
at  any  odd  hour  the  Italian  Tongue.}  And 
soon  after,  but  with  wariness  and  good  anti- 
dote, it  would  be  wholesome  enough  to  let 
them  taste  some  choice  Comedies,  Greek,  Latin, 
or  Italian :  Those  Tragedies  also  that  treat  of 
Household  matters, as  Trachinicz,  Alcestis,a.r\d 
the  like.  (The  next  remove  must  be  to  the 
study  of  Politicks ;  to  know  the  beginning, 
end,  and  reasons  of  Political  Societies  0  that 
they  may  not  in  a  dangerous  fit  of  the  Com- 
mon-wealth be  such  poor,  shaken,  uncertain 
Reeds,  of  such  a  tottering  Conscience,  as  many 
of  our  great  Counsellers  have  lately  shewn 
themselves,  but  stedfast  pillars  of  the  State. 
After  this  they  are  to  dive  into  the  grounds  of 
Law,  and  legal  Justice ;  deliver'd  first,  and 
with  best  warrant  by  Moses ;  and  as  far  as  hu- 
mane 


mane  prudence  can  be  trusted,  in  those  ex- 
toll'd  remains  of  Grecian  Law-givers,  Licurgus, 
Solon,  Zaleucus^Charondas^di  thence  to  all  the 
Roman  Edicts&nd.  Tables  with  their  Justinian ; 
and  so  down  to  the  Saxon  and  common  Laws 
Q{  England, &&&  the  Statutes.  Sundayes  also  and 
every  evening  may  be  now  understandingly 
spent  in  the  highest  matters  of  Theology,  and 
Church  History  ancient  and  modern  :  and  ere 
this  time  the  Hebrew  Tongue  at  a  set  hour 

o 

might  have  been  gain'd,  that  the  Scriptures 
may  be  now  read  in  their  own  orginal ;  where- 
to it  would  be  no  impossibility  to  add  the 
Chaldey,  and  the  Syrian  Dialect.  When  all 
these  employments  are  well  conquer'd,  then 
will  the  choice  Histories,  Heroic  Poems;  and 
Attic  Tragedies  of  stateliest  and  most  regal  ar- 
gument, with  all  the  famous  Political  Ora- 
tions offer  themselves  ;  which  if  they  were  not 
only  read  ;  but  some  of  them  got  by  memory, 
and  solemnly  pronounc't  with  right  accent, 
and  grace,  as  might  be  taught,  would  endue 
them  even  with  the  spirit  and  vigor  of  De- 
mosthenes or  Cicero,  Eiiripidcs,  or  Sophocles. 
And  now  lastly  will  be  the  time  to  read  with 
them  those  organic  arts  which  inable  men  to 
discourse  and  write  perspicuously,  elegantly, 
and  according  to  the  fitted  stile  of  lofty,  mean, 

or 


(  16 

or  lowly.  Logic  therefore  so  much  as  is  use- 
ful, is  to  be  referr'd  to  this  due  place  withall 
her  well  coucht  Heads  and  Topics,  untill  it  be 
time  to  open  her  contracted  palm  into  a  grace- 
full  and  ornate  Rhetorick  taught  out  of  the  rule 
of 'Plato,  A  r  is  to  tie,  Phalereits,  Cicero,  Her  mo  gen  es, 
Longinus.  To  which  Poetry  would  be  made 
subsequent,  or  indeed  rather  precedent,  as 
being  less  suttle  and  fine,  but  more  simple,  sen- 
suous and  passionate.  I  mean  not  here  the 
prosody  of  a  verse,  which  they  could  not  but 
have  hit  on  before  amon^  the  rudiments  of 

o 

Grammar ;  but  that  sublime  Art  which  in 
A  ristotles.  Poetics,  in  Horace,  and  the  Italian 
Commentaries  of  Castelvetro,  Tasso,  Mazzoni, 
and  others,  teaches  what  the  laws  are  of  a  true 
Epic  Poem,  what  of  a  Dramatic,  what  of  a 
Lyric,  what  Decorum  is,  which  is  the  grand 
master-piece  to  observe.  This  would  make 
them  soon  perceive  what  despicable  creatures 
our  comm  Rimers  and  Play-writers  be,  and 
shew  them,  what  religious,  what  glorious  and 
magnificent  use  might  be  made  of  Poetry  both 
in  divine  and  humane  things.  From  hence 
and  not  till  now  will  be  the  right  season  of 
forming  them  to  be  able  Writers  and  Compo- 
sers in  every  excellent  matter,  when  they  shall 
be  thus  fraught  with  an  universal  insight  into 

things. 


things.  Or  whether  they  be  to  speak  in  Par- 
liament or  Counsel,  honour  and  attention 
would  be  waiting  on  their  lips.  There  would 
then  also  appear  in  Pulpits  other  Visages,  other 
gestures,  and  stuff  otherwise  wrought  then  what 

o  o 

we  now  sit  under,  oft  times  to  as  great  a  trial 
of  our  patience  as  any  other  that  they  preachj 
to  us.      These  are  the  Studies  wrherein  our" 
noble  and  our  gentle  Youth  ou^ht  to  bestow 

o  o 

their  time  in  a  disciplinary  way  from  twelve  to 
one  and  twenty  ;  unless  they  rely  more  upon 
their  ancestors  dead,  then  upon  themselves 
living.  In  which  methodical  course  it  is  so 
suppos'd  they  must  proceed  by  the  steddy 
pace  of  learning  onward,  as  at  convenient 
times  for  memories  sake  to  retire  back  into  the 
middle  ward,  and  sometimes  into  the  rear  of 
what  they  have  been  taught,  untill  they  have 
confirmed,  and  solidly  united  the  whole  body 
of  their  perfeted  knowledge,  like  the  last  em- 
battelling  of  a  Roman  Legion.  Now  will  be 
worth  the  seeing  what  Exercises  and  Recreati- 
ons may  best  agree,  and  become  these  Studies. 

•  Their  Exercise. 

The  course  of   Study  hitherto  briefly  de- 
scrib'd,  is,  what  I  can  guess  by  reading,  likest 

to 


to  those  ancient  and  famous  Schools  of  Pytha- 
goras, Plato,  I  socrates,Aristotle'&ru\.  such  others, 
out  of  which  were  bred  up  such  a  number  of 
renowned  Philosophers,  Orators,  Historians, 
Poets  and  Princes  all  over  Greece,  Italy,  and 
Asia,  besides  the  flourishing  Studies  of  Cyrene 
and  Alexandria.  But  herein  it  shall  exceed 
them,  and  supply  a  defect  as  great  as  that  which 
Plato  noted  in  the  Common- wealth  of  Sparta; 
whereas  that  City  train'd  up  their  Youth  most 
for  War,  and  these  in  their  Academies  and 
Lyc&umJ  aJM^theGownJthis  institution  of 
breeding  which  I  here  delineate,  shall  be  equal- 
ly good  both  for  Peace  and  War.  (Therefore 
/about  an  hour  and  a  half  ere. they  eat  at  Noon 
i  should  be  allow'd  them  for  exercise  and  due 
rest  afterwards:  But  the  time  for  this  may  be 
enlarg'd  at  pleasure,  according  as  their  rising 
V^in  the  morning  shall  be  early.  The  Exercise 
which  I  commend  first,  is  the  exact  use  of  their 
Weapon,  to  guard  and  to  strike  safely  with 
edge,  or  point ;  this  will  keep  them  healthy, 
nimble,  strong,  and  well  in  breath,  is  also  the 
likeliest  means  to  make  them  grow  large  and 
tall,  and  to  inspire  them  with  a  gallant  and 
fearless  courage,  which  being  temper'd  with  . 
seasonable  Lectures  and  Precepts  to  them  of 
true  Fortitude  and  Patience,  will  turn  into  a 

native 


''  (  '9  ) 

\ 

native  and  heroick  valour,  and  make  them 
hate  the  cowardise  of  doing  wrong.  They 
must  be  also  practiz'd  in  all  the  Locks  and 
Gripes  of  Wrastling,  Vherein  English  men 
were  wont  to  excell,  as  need  may  often  be  in 
fight  to  tugg  or  grapple,  and  to  close.  And 
this  perhaps  will  be  enough,  wherein  to  prove 
and  heat  their  single  strength.  The  interim  of 

o  o  y_ 

unsweating  themselves  regularly,  and  conve- 
venient  rest  before  meat  may  both  with  profit 
and  delight  be  taken  up  in  recreating  and  com- 
posing their  travail'd  spirits  with  the  solemn 
and  divine  harmonies  of  Musick  heard  or 
learnt;  either  while  the  skilful  Organist  plies 
his  grave  and  fancied  descant,  in  lofty  fugues, 
or  the  whole  Symphony  with  artful  and  un- 
imaginable touches  adorn  and  grace  the  well 
studied  chords  of  some  choice  Composer,  some- 
times the  Lute,  or  soft  Organ  stop  waiting  on 
elegant  Voices  either  to  Religious,  martial,  / 
or  civil  Ditties  ;  wrhich  if  wise  men  and  Pro" 
phets  be  not  extreamly  out,  have  a  great 
power  over  dispositions  and  manners,  to 
smooth  and  make  them  gentle  from,  .rustick 
harshness  and  distemper'd  passions.  The  like 
also  would  not  be  unexpedient  after  Meat  to 
assist  and  cherish  Natureinher  first  concoction, 
and  send  their  minds  back  to  study  in  good 

tune 


(20) 

tune  and  satisfaction.     Where  bavins'  follow'd 

o 

it  close  under  vigilant  eyes  till  about  two  hours 
before  supper,   they  are  by  a  sudden  alarum 
or  watch  word,  to  be  call'd  out  to  their  mili- 
tary motions,  under  skie  or  covert,  according 
to  the  season,  as  was  the  Roman  wont)  first 
on  foot,  then  as  their  age  permits,  on  Horse- 
_back,  to  all  the  Art  of  Cavalry ;  That  having 
*  in  sport,  but  with  much  exactness,  and  daily 
muster,  serv'd  out  the  rudiments  of  their  Soul- 
diership  in  all  the  skill  of  Embattelling,  March- 
ing, Encamping,  Fortifying,  Besieging  and  Bat- 
tering, with  all  the  helps  of  ancient  and  mo- 
dern stratagems,  Tacticks  and  warlike  maxims, 
they  may  as  it  were  out  of  a  long  War  come 
forth  renowned  and  perfect  Commanders  in 
the  service  of  their  Country.      They  would 
not  then,  if  they  were  trusted  with  fair  and 
hopeful  armies,  suffer  them  for  want  of  just  and 
wise  discipline  to  shed  away  from  about  them 
like  sick  feathers,  though  they  be  never  so  oft 
suppli'd  :   they  wTould  not  suffer  their  empty 
and  unrecrutible  Colonels  of  twenty  men  in  a 
Company  to  quaff  out,  or  convey  into  secret 
hoards,  the  wages  of  a  delusive  list,  and    a 
miserable  remnant :  yet  in  the  mean  while  to 
be  over-master'd  with  a  score  or  two  of  drun- 
kards, the  only  souldery  left  about  them,  or 

else 


(21    ) 

/ 

else  to  comply  with  all  rapines  and  violences. 
No  certainly,  if  they  knew  ought  of  that  know- 
ledge that  belongs  to  good  men  or  good  Go- 
vernours,  they  would  not  suffer  these  things. 
But  to  return  to  our  own  institute,  besides  these"! 
constant  exercises  at  home,  there  is  another 
opportunity  of  gaining  experience  to  be  won 
from  pleasure  it  self  abroad  ',(lr\  those  vernal 
seasons  of  the  year,  when  the  air  is  calm  and 
pleasant,  it  were  an  injury  andsullenness  against 
nature  not  to  go  out,  and  see  her  riches,  and 
partake  in  her  rejoycing  with  Heaven  and 
Earth.  I  should  not  therefore  be  a  perswader 
to  them  of  studying  much  then,  after  two  or 
three  year  that  they  have  well  laid  their 
grounds,  but  to  ride  out  in  Companies  with 
prudent  and  staic^  Guides,  to  all  the  quar- 
ters of  the  Land '.$  learning  and  observing 
all  places  of  strength,  all  commodities  of 
building  and  of  soil,  for  Towns  and  Tillage, 
Harbours  and  Ports  for  Trade. }  Sometimes 
taking  Sea  as  far  as  to  our  Navy,  to  learn 
there  also  what  they  can  in  the  practical  know- 
ledge of  sailing  and  of  Sea-fight.  These  ways 
would  try  all  their  peculiar  gifts  of  Nature,  / 
and  if  there  were  any  secret  excellence  among 
them,  would  fetch  it  out,  and  give  it  fair  op- 
portunities to  advance  it  self  by,  which  could 

not 


o- 


(22) 

not  but  mightily  redound  to  the  good  of  this 
Nation,) and  bring  into  fashion  again  those 
old  admired  Vertues  and  Excellencies,  with 
far  more  advantage  now  in  this  purity  of  Chri- 

jLstian  knowledge.       Nor  shall  we  then  need 
f 

the  Monsieurs  of  Paris  to  take  our  hopefull 
Youth  into  their  slight  and  prodigal  custodies 
and  send  them  over  back  again  transform'd 
into  Mimicks,  Apes  and  Kicshoes.  But  if 
they  desire  to  see  other  Countries  at  three  or 
four  and  twenty  years  of  age,  not  to  learn 
Principles  but  to  enlarge  Experience,  and 
make  wise  observation,  they  will  by  that  time 
be  such  as  shall  deserve  the  regard  and  honour 
of  all  men  where  they  pass,  and  the  society 
and  friendship  of  those  in  all  places  who  are 
best  and  most  eminent.  And  perhaps  then 
other  Nations  will  be  glad  to  visit  us  for  their 
Breeding,  or  else  to  imitate  us  in  their  own 
\jCountry. 

Now  lastly  for  their  Diet  there  cannot  be 
much  to  say,  save  only  that  it  would  be  best 
in  the  same  House  ;  for  much  time  else  would 
be  lost  abroad,  and  many  ill  habits  got ;  and 
that  it  should  be  plain,  healthful,  and  mode- 
rate I  suppose  is  out  of  controversie.  Thus 
Mr.  Hartlib,  you  have  a  general  view  in  wri- 
ting, as  your  desire  was,  of  that  which  at  se- 
veral 


(  23  ) 

veral  times  I  had  discourst  with  you  concern- 
ing the  best  and  Noblest  way  of  Education; 
not  beginning  as  some  have  done  from  the 
Cradle,  which  yet  might  be  worth  many  con- 
siderations, if  brevity  had  not  been  my  scope, 
many  other  circumstances  also  I  could  have 
mention'd,  but  this  to  such  as  have  the  worth 

in  them  to  make  trial,  for  li^ht  and  direction 

__ 

may  be  enough.  Only  I  believe  that  this  is\ 
not  a  Bow  for  every  man  to  shoot  in  that 
counts  himself  a  Teacher ;  but  will  require 
sinews  almost  equal  to  those  which  Homer  gave 
Ulysses,  yet  I  am  withall  perswaded  that  it  may 
prove  much  more  easie  in  the  assay,  then  it 
now  seems  at  distance,  and  much  more  illu- 
trious  ff~  howbeit  not  more  difficult  then  I 
imagine,  and  that  imagination  presents  me  with 
nothing  but  very  happy  and  very  possible  ac- 
cording to  best  wishes  ;  if  God  have  so  de- 
creed, and  this  age  have  spirit  and  capacity 
enough  to  apprehend. 


B. 


NOTES. 


To  Master  Samuel  Hartlib.  For  an  account  of 
Samuel  Hartlib  see  Masson's  Life  of  Milton,  in.  193. 
He  was  the  son  of  a  Polish  merchant  of  German  extrac- 
tion, who  had  settled  at  Elbing  in  Prussia.  His  mother 
was  the  daughter  of  an  English  merchant  at  Danzic,  so 
Hartlib  though  Prussian  born  with  Polish  connexions 
could  call  himself  half  English.  He  was  probably  about 
eight  or  ten  years  older  than  Milton.  He  first  came  to 
England  about  the  year  1628  and  from  that  time  made 
London  his  headquarters.  u  He  was  one  of  those 
persons  now  styled  '  philanthropists '  or  '  friends  of 
progress,'  who  take  an  interest  in  every  question  or 
project  of  their  time  promising  social  improvement,  have 
always  some  iron  in  the  fire,  are  constantly  forming 
committees  or  writing  letters  to  persons  of  influence  and 
altogether  live  for  the  public.  By  the  common  consent 
of  all  who  have  explored  the  intellectual  and  social 
history  of  England  in  the  seventeenth  century,  he  is  one 
of  the  most  interesting  and  memorable  figures  of  that 
whole  period." 

written  above  twenty  years  since.  According  to  Masson, 
Life  of  Milton,  in.  233.     The  treatise  "of  Education" 

4—2 


26  NOTES. 

was  first  published  on  June  5,  1644.  The  treatise  was 
reprinted  in  1673  at  the  end  of  the  second  edition 
of  the  minor  poems  with  the  words  "written  above 
twenty  years  since "  (really  nearly  thirty)  added  to  the 
original  title.  The  text  of  the  present  edition  is  a  fac- 
simile of  the  reprint  of  1673. 

1.  8.     respect,  consideration. 

1.  9.  then.  The  old  spelling  of  than,  as  our  then 
was  then  spelt  than,  and  in  Shakespere's  Lucrece  rhymes 
to  van  and  began. 

1.  17.     conjuremenfS)  "  solemn  appeals." 

1.  1 8.     diverted,  "turned  off." 

Lip.  assertions,  positions,  statements.  Milton's  mind 
was  now  principally  occupied  with  the  questions  of 
Divorce  and  of  the  liberty  of  unlicensed  printing.  The 
second  edition  of  the  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce 
was  published  about  three  months  before  the  Tractate, 
and  his  Judgement  of  Master  Bucer  concerning  Divorce 
five  weeks  after.  The  Areopagitica  was  published 
Nov.  24,  1644. 

P.  2,  1.  3.     divide,  to  break  up.    transpose,  to  change. 

1.  6.  person  sent  hither,  John  Amos  Comenius.  P'or 
an  account  of  him  see  John  Amos  Comenius  by  S.  S.  Laurie 
in  Kegan  Paul's  Education  Library,  also  Masson's  Life  of 
Milton,  vol.  in.  There  are  also  accounts  of  him  in 
Browning's  History  of  Educational  Theories,  and  Quick's 
Educational  Reformers.  Comenius  came  to  London  at 
Hartlib's  invitation,  Sept.  22,  1641.  He  left  it  for 
Sweden  in  August,  1642.  When  he  was  in  London 
the  Parliament  thought  of  assigning  to  Comenius  for 
his  plans  of  a  College-University  some  College  with  its 
revenues.  Comenius  tells  us  "  there  was  even  named 
for  the  purpose  the  Savoy  in  London;  Winchester  College 


NOTES.  27 

out  of  London  was  named ;  and  again  nearer  the  city 
Chelsea  College,  inventories  of  which  and  of  its  revenues 
were  communicated  to  us ;  so  that  nothing  seemed  more 
certain  than  that  the  design  of  the  great  Verulam  con- 
cerning the  opening  somewhere  of  a  Universal  College 
devoted  to  the  advancement  of  the  Sciences,  would  be 
carried  out.  But  the  rumour  of  the  insurrection  in 
Ireland  and  of  the  massacre  in  one  night  of  more  than 
200,000  English,  and  the  sudden  departure  of  the  King 
from  London,  and  the  plentiful  signs  of  the  bloody  war 
about  to  break  out  disturbed  these  plans,  and  obliged 
me  to  hasten  my  return  to  my  own  people." 

1.  15.  beyond  the  seas.  Comenius  spent  the  years 
1643 — 1646  at  Elbing,  Hartlib's  own  birthplace,  writing 
his  didactic  treatises,  and  his  going  there  was  largely 
owing  to  Hartlib's  recommendation. 

P.  3,  1.  4.     obligement,  duty,  obligation. 

1.  17.  Januds  and  Didactics.  This  is  a  reference 
apparently  a  little  contemptuous  to  Comenius's  two 
great  works ;  the  Janua  linguarum  reserata  was  pub- 
lished in  1631,  and  was  translated  into  most  European 
and  some  Eastern  languages.  His  Didactica  Magna 
was  first  written  in  his  own  language,  Czech,  and  after- 
wards translated  into  Latin.  It  is  doubtful  if  it  was 
published  in  1644,  but  Milton  had  of  course  heard  of  it. 

1.  20.  flowrd  off.  Latham  explains  this  as  "come 
off  as  flowers  by  sublimation."  I  should  rather  connect 
it  with  the  "burnishing"  below. 

1.  21.    burnishing,  the  particles  rubbed  off  in  polishing. 

1.  27.     mines,  the  fall. 

P.  4,  1.  6.  sensible  things.  This  is  the  keynote  of 
Milton's  teaching.  Things  are  to  be  taught  before  words, 
or  rather  things  and  words  are  to  be  taught  together,  the 


28  NOTES. 

only  value  of  words  being  that  they  lead  us  to  the  things 
of  which  they  are  symbols,  as  he  says  below  "  language 
is  but  the  instrument  conveying  to  us  things  usefull  to  be 
known." 

P.  5,  1.  5.  idle  vacancies.  This  probably  does  not 
refer  so  much  to  vacations  and  holidays  as  to  perpetual 
interruption  caused  by  Saints'  days  and  holidays.  This 
is  a  principal  cause  of  the  inefficiency  of  the  education 
given  by  Jesuits  and  other  Roman  Catholic  bodies.  At 
Eton  College,  when  I  was  a  boy  there,  every  Saint's  day 
was  a  holiday  and  every  eve  a  half-holiday,  the  work 
of  these  days  was  supposed  to  be  done  on  other  days,  so 
also  at  the  University  there  were  no  lectures  on  Saints' 
days.  The  long  vacation  at  the  University  of  course 
existed  in  Milton's  time. 

1.  6.    preposterous,  inverting  the  natural  order. 

1.  15.  barbarizing,  so  a  lexicon  of  pure  idiomatic 
latinity  is  called  antibarbarus. 

1.  1 6.  untutored,  rude,  raw.  So  Shakespere  Lucrece, 
Ded.  "  my  untutored  lines,"  and  //.  Henry  VI.  in.  2, 
"some  stern  untutored  churl." 

1.  19.     conversing  among,  "becoming  familiar  with." 

1.  21.  certain  forms,  "paradigms,"  the  regular  forms 
in  which  they  habitually  occur. 

1.  23.     lessorfd,  "taught." 

1.  26.  Arts,  the  subject-matter  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion, originally  the  seven  liberal  arts  contained  in  the 
Trivium  and  Quadrivium,  Grammar,  Dialectic,  Rhetoric, 
Music,  Arithmetic,  Geometry,  Astronomy.  So  Shakes- 
pere uses  Arts  as  a  synonym  for  education  generally, 
Taming  of  the  Shrew,  I.  i.  2,  "Padua,  Nursery  of  Arts," 
and  Twelfth  Night,  i.  3.  99,  "  Had  I  but  followed  the 
Arts."  Compare  Bachelor  and  Master  of  Arts. 


NOTES.  29 

P.  6,  1.  9.  obvious  to  the  sence.  This  is  an  anticipa- 
tion of  the  doctrines  of  Pestalozzi  and  Froebel,  who  insist 
on  the  importance  of  beginning  education  with  the  train- 
ing of  the  senses. 

1.  10.  unmatriculated,  "  even  before  their  matricula- 
tion," or  perhaps  generally  "immature." 

1.  ii.     intellective,  "intellectual." 

Logick.  This  is  the  same  as  Dialectic,  and  stands, 
as  we  have  seen,  second  in  the  Trivium,  immediately 
after  Grammar.  This  is  explained  more  in  detail  imme- 
diately below. 

1.  1 8.    fadomless,  fathom  is  fadom  in  middle  English. 

1.  21.     ragged,  "rugged." 

1.  22.     babblements,  "prattling." 

1.  24.     youthful  years,  the  impatience  of  youth. 

1.  25.     sway,  "pressure"  or  "influence." 

1.  26.  mercenary  ...Divinity.  Such  divines  are  treated 
with  scathing  scorn  in  Lycidas,  where  S.  Peter  says  : 

How  well  could  I  have  spar'd  for  thee,  young  swain, 

Anow  of  such  as  for  their  bellies'  sake, 

Creep  and  intrude,  and  climb  into  the  fold? 

Of  other  care  they  little  reck'ning  make, 

Then  how  to  scramble  at  the  shearers'  feast, 

And  shove  away  the  worthy  bidden  guest  ; 

Blind  mouthes  !  that  scarce  themselves  know  how  to  hold 

A  sheep-hook,  or  have  learn'd  ought  els  the  least 

That  to  the  faithfull  Herdman's  art  belongs  ! 

What  recks  it  them?     What  need  they?     They  are  sped. 

P.  7,1.  i.  prudent  and  heavenly  contemplation.  Pru- 
dent, provident,  foreseeing.  Milton  here  sketches  the 
idea  of  what  a  University  law  school  ought  to  be,  con- 
cerned with  the  theory  and  not  with  the  practice  of  law. 

1.  6.     Slate  affairs.     Milton  suggests  the  conception 


30  ~ 

of  a  University  training  for  public  and  political  life  such 
as  has  never  been  found  in  England,  uut  such  as  was 
contemplated  by  the  creation  of  King's  Scholars  to  be 
recommended  for  the  service  of  the  State,  when  the  Re- 
gius Professorships  of  Modern  History  and  Modern 
Languages  were  first  founded  by  George  I.  at  Oxford 
and  Cambridge. 

1.  1 1.  conscientious  slavery.  They  veil  slavery  under 
the  form  of  conscientious  subjection,  but  in  this  only 
deceive  themselves. 

1.  12.     delicious,  ''delicate." 

1.  13.  airie  spirit,  a  mind  subject  to  spiritual  in- 
fluences. 

1.  1 6.     wisest  and  the  safest  course,  compare  Lycidas : 

"Were  it  not  better  done  as  others  use 
To  sport  with  Amaryllis  in  the  shade 
Or  with  the  tangles  of  Neasra's  hair." 

1.  19.  prime  youth,  either  our  early  youth  or  the  best 
part  of  our  youth. 

1.  21.  meer  words.  Milton  returns  here  to  the  key- 
note of  his  argument,  that  the  main  fault  of  the  present 
humanistic  education  is  that  it  teaches  words  only. 

P.  8,  1.  2.  Harp  of  Orpheus.  Compare  Shakespere, 
Henry  VIII,  Act  in.  sc.  i,  "  Orpheus  with  his  lute  made 
trees,  And  the  mountain  tops  which  freeze,  Bow  them- 
selves when  he  did  sing."  Also  Merchant  of  Venice, 
Act  v.  sc.  i,  "therefore  the  poet  Did  feign  that  Orpheus 
drew  trees,  stones  and  floods,  Since  naught  so  stockish, 
hard  and  full  of  rage,  But  music  for  the  time  doth  change 
his  nature." 

1.  5.  stocks  and  stubbs.  Stock  is  a  log  or  post,  the 
emblem  of  a  senseless  person,  So  Taming  of  the  Shrew, 


31 

Act  i.  sc.  i,  1.  31,  "Let's  be  no  stoics  nor  no  stocks  I 
pray."  A  stubb  is  the  stock  of  a  tree  left  when  the  rest 
is  cut  off.  Spenser  joins  the  two  words  together,  "all 
about  old  stocks  and  stubbs  of  trees." 

1.  7.     hale  =  haul. 

1.  ii.     docible  =  docile. 

1.  1 8.  sophistry.  This  would  especially  refer  to  Logic, 
the  second  of  the  seven  Arts,  following  after  Grammar. 

P.  9,  1.  2.  practitioners.  The  school  and  university 
are  to  give  the  theoretical,  not  the  practical  and  profes- 
sional training ;  these  in  law  and  medicine  are  to  be  kept 
distinct. 

1.  4.  Lilly,  as  we  should  now  say  the  Latin  Primer. 
William  Lilly  (not  to  be  confounded  with  John  Lilly,  the 
author  of  Euphues,  who  was  born  30  years  after  this  Wil- 
liam Lilly's  death)  lived  from  about  1468  to  1523,  and 
was  an  eminent  scholar  and  first  master  of  St  Paul's 
School.  He  published  in  1513,  Brevissima  Institutio  seu 
Ratio  Grammatices  cognoscenti,  generally  known  as  Lilly  s 
Latin  Grammar.  In  this  he  was  assisted  by  Colet,  Car- 
dinal Wolsey,  and  Erasmus. 

commencing.  The  Great  Commencement  at  Cam- 
bridge, the  Comitia  Magna,  was  the  time  at  which  the 
higher  degrees  were  conferred. 

1.  8.  every  City.  It  is  important  to  notice  that  these 
Colleges  were  to  be  in  towns,  not  in  the  country. 

1.  10.      Civility,  what  we  should  now  call  "culture." 

1.  19.  their  speech  is  to  be  fashioned.  The  first  care 
in  Greek  education  was  to  train  the  tender  mouth  and 
ear  to  express  and  distinguish  between  the  delicate  Greek 
vowels  and  the  variety  of  accent.  The  teacher  for  this 
purpose  was  called  the  <£COVCUTKOS. 

1.  27.     smatter.     Skeat  says  in  his  Dictionary,  " sma£- 


32  NOTES. 

ter  (or  sjiatter)  is  a  frequentative  verb  from  a  base  SMAK, 
SNAK  denoting  a  smacking  noise  with  the  lips,  hence  a 
gabbling  prating." 

P.  10,  1.  3.  season  them,  imbue  :  so  Jeremy  Taylor, 
"  secure  their  religion,  season  their  younger  years  with 
prudent  and  pious  principles." 

1.  7.  read  to  them.  Mark  this.  In  what  language  ? 
Certainly  not  in  Greek,  perhaps  not  even  in  Latin. 
Masson  says,  "  there  were  in  Milton's  time  Latin  trans- 
lations of  Cebes  and  at  least  one  in  English."  Ratich, 
the  forerunner  of  Comenms,  advises  the  teacher  of  Latin 
to  begin  by  translating  the  Latin  author  to  the  scholars 
first. 

1.  8.  Cebes  was  a  disciple  of  Socrates,  he  is  one  of 
the  speakers  in  the  Ph&do  and  was  present  at  the  death 
of  Socrates.  It  is  therefore  rather  remarkable  that  the 
7rtVa£  (pinax)  of  this  author  should  have  been  so  little 
studied  in  recent  times.  During  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries  it  was  extremely  popular.  The  genuine- 
ness of  the  treatise  is,  however,  positively  denied  by 
Zeller  who  places  it  in  a  later  age.  The  Pinax  is  a 
philosophical  explanation  of  a  table  on  which  the  whole 
of  human  life  with  its  dangers  and  temptations  were 
symbolically  represented;  "the  author  introduces  some 
youths  contemplating  the  table,  and  an  old  man  who 
steps  among  them  agrees  to  explain  its  meaning.  The 
whole  drift  of  the  little  book  is  to  shew  that  only  the 
proper  development  of  our  mind  and  the  possession  of 
real  virtues  can  make  us  truly  happy." 

Plutarch  flourished  about  A.D.  100.  His  moral  works 
are  here  referred  to  which  treat  of  education  and  domestic 
morality.  They  were  translated  into  French  by  Amyot  as 
early  as  1565. 


NOTES.  33 

1.  9.  other  Socratic  discourses.  Milton  of  course 
believed  the  7ru/a£  of  Cebes  to  be  Socratic. 

1.  ii.  Quintilian,  for  an  account  of  his  views  on 
education  see  Browning's  Educational  Theories,  p.  26. 
He  was  born  A.D.  42  and  was  therefore  a  contemporary 
of  Plutarch. 

1.  13.  temper  them,  to  apportion  or  regulate  for  them, 
to  suit  the  lessons  to  the  occasion. 

P.  n,  1.  6.  aritJimetick  and  geometry  were  two  of 
the  seven  liberal  Arts  coming  in  the  Quadrivium  after 
music  and  before  astronomy. 

1.  7.  playing,  as  the  old  manner  was.  I  have  said 
elsewhere  of  Roman  education  (Ed.  Theor.  p.  21),  "Next 
to  reading  and  writing  came  reckoning,  the  fingers  were 
made  great  use  of,  each  joint  and  bend  of  the  finger  was 
made  to  signify  a  certain  value,  and  the  pupil  was 
expected  to  follow  the  twinkling  motion  of  the  teacher's 
hands  as  he  represented  number  after  number.  The 
modem  Italian  game  vimora  is  a  survival  of  this  capacity." 
Plato  more  than  once  represents  Socrates  as  giving 
lessons  in  geometry  to  young  Greeks  in  the  palaestra. 

1.  9.     easie  —  elementary. 

1.  ii.     after  authors  'of  should  be  inserted. 

1.  12.  Cato  the  censor  (234 — 149  A.D. ).  The  work 
de  Re  Rustica  which  bears  his  name  is  probably 
substantially  his,  but  is  not  now  in  the  form  in  which  he 
left  it.  Varro  wrote  the  three  books  de  Re  Rustica 
which  we  possess  at  the  age  of  eighty,  B.C.  36.  He  was 
an  intimate  friend  of  Cicero. 

Columella  who  flourished  a  generation  later  wrote 
12  books  in  agriculture.  Milton  mentions  them  in 
chronological  order.  The  works  of  these  three  authors 
were  first  printed  at  Venice  in  1472. 


34  NOTES. 

1.  14.  it  is  not  a  difficulty  above  their  years.  Milton 
is  quite  right  in  assuming  that  children  have  little 
difficulty  in  learning  a  copious  vocabulary.  In  these 
works  the  subject-matter  and  the  construction  are  both 
of  them  easy. 

1.  21.    plying,  ''working  steadily." 

1.  22.     chuse  but  be,  "help  being." 

1.  23.  ordinary  prose.  Latin  prose  is  of  course 
meant. 

1.  24.     modern  author,  probably  in  Latin. 

P.  12,  1.  5.  Historical  is  probably  used  in  the  sense 
of  "  narrative."  The  title  of  Theophrastus'  Greek  work 
is  tj  rrcpl  (frvTwv  icrTopia. 

1.  6.  Aristotle  lived  384 — 3226.0.  Theophrastus 
was  his  pupil;  of  his  numerous  works  we  only  possess 
two  on  botany. 

1.  8.  Vitruvius  lived  in  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  and 
Augustus  and  wrote  about  architecture. 

Seneca  died  A.D.  65,  aged  nearly  70.  His  Questionum 
Naturalium  libri  septem  "  is  one  of  the  few  Roman 
works  in  which  physical  matters  are  treated  of."  It  is 
a  collection  of  natural  facts  from  various  writers,  Greek 
and  Roman.  Mela  was  the  author  of  the  first  formal 
treatise  on  Geography  in  Latin.  He  may  have  been 
the  brother  of  Seneca  and  the  father  cf  Lucan  the 
poet,  but  this  is  uncertain.  His  work  was  translated 
into  English  by  Arthur  Golding,  1585. 

Celsus  of  the  Augustan  age  wrote  eight  books  on 
Medicine.  Pliny,  who  perished  A.D.  79  in  the  eruption 
of  Vesuvius  which  destroyed  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum, 
wrote  37  books  on  Natural  History.  This  work  was 
translated  into  English  by  Holland  in  1601.  Solinus 
who  lived  in  the  third  century  A.D.  wrote  a  kind  of 


NOTES.  35 

abridgement  of  Pliny's  Natural  History.  His  work  was 
much  studied  in  the  middle  ages  and  there  is  an  early 
translation  into  English — "  the  excellent  and  pleasant 
worke  of  Julius  Solinus  Polyhistor  containing  the  noble 
actions  of  humaine  creatures,  the  Secretes  and  Providence 
of  Nature,  the  description  of  Countries,  the  manners  of 
the  People,  &c.,  &c.,  translated  out  of  Latin  by  Arthur 
Golding  Gent."  Lond.  1587. 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  authors  are  chosen  not  for 
their  style  but  for  their  matter,  the  Latin  words  are  only 
to  be  used  as  a  means  of  arriving  at  things  expressed  by 
them.  Also  the  concrete  knowledge  contained  in  these 
books  is  to  precede  the  abstract  study  of  the  sciences  to 
which  they  refer. 

P.  12,  1.  15.     Enginry,  ''engineering." 

1.  21.  institutions,  "rules  and  precepts,"  compare  the 
Institutes  of  Justinian,  an  elementary  treatise  on  Roman 
law. 

1.  22.  tempers,  the  four  temperaments,  melancholic, 
sanguine,  lymphatic,  choleric,  humours,  the  four  humours 
caused  the  four  temperaments,  compare  Chaucer,  "He 
knew  the  cause  of  every  maladie,  and  wher  engendred 
and  of  what  humour."  Seasons,  the  effect  of  the  seasons 
on  the  health  of  the  body. 

1.  23.     crudity,  "indigestion,"  "constipation." 

1.  27.  expenseless,  compare  Blackmore,  "What  health 
promotes  and  gives  unenvyed  peace  Is  all  expenseless  and 
procured  with  ease." 

P.  13,  1.  3.     commander^  see  below,  note  on  page  20. 

1.  4.  proceedings,  a  university  term :  we  say  to  proceed 
in  law  or  physic. 

1.  12.     natural  knowledge,  i.e.  knowledge  of  nature. 

1.  1 6.    facil,  "easy." 


36  NOTES. 

Orpheus.  The  works  which  have  come  down  to  us 
under  the  name  of  Orphica  are  (i)  Argonautica,  an  epic 
poem  in  1384  lines,  giving  an  account  of  the  expe- 
dition of  the  Argonauts.  (2)  Eighty-seven  or  eighty-eight 
hymns,  of  the  Neo-Platonic  school.  (3)  Lithica,  a  poem 
treating  of  the  properties  of  stones  both  precious  and 
common  and  their  uses  in  divination.  This  last  poem  is 
undoubtedly  alluded  to  by  Milton.  Hesiod.  The  Works 
and  days  is  referred  to,  a  poem  concerned  with  the  opera- 
tions of  agriculture.  Theocritus  wrote  pastoral  poems  such 
as  Virgil  imitated  in  his  Eclogues.  Aratus  wrote  two  poems 
on  astronomical  subjects.  Of  the  writings  of  Nicander 
two  poems  remain,  Theriaca,  treating  of  venomous  animals 
and  the  wounds  inflicted  by  them,  and  Alexipharmaca  of 
poisons  and  their  antidotes.  Under  the  name  of  Oppian 
Milton  would  include  two  poems,  one  on  fishing  Halieutica^ 
and  the  other  on  hunting  Cynegetica.  They  are  now 
known  not  to  be  by  the  same  author.  Dionysius 
Periegetes,  the  author  of  a  Trepofy^o-is  r^s  777?,  a  general 
survey  of  the  world  as  known  at  that  time.  How  few 
professed  scholars  have  read  the  works  here  enumerated 
and  what  a  wide  grasp  of  ancient  literature  they 
imply ! 

1.  1 8.  Lucretius,  the  author  of  the  great  poem  De 
rerum  natura.  Manilius  wrote  an  astrological  poem 
in  five  books  entitled  Astronomica.  Virgil,  the  "rural 
part "  would  be  the  Eclogues  and  the  Georgics. 

1.  20.  By  this  time.  Having  spent  three  or  four 
years  in  learning  the  elements  of  Latin  and  Greek, 
mathematics,  physics  and  natural  history  with  the  ancient 
literature  that  appertains  to  them,  about  the  age  of  15  or 
1 6  they  will  approach  studies  which  are  to  form  their 
moral  nature. 


NOTES.  37 

1.  23.  Proairesis  is  the  deliberate  choice  between 
good  and  evil  in  the  affairs  of  life. 

P.  14,  1.  3.  Plutarch  has  been  mentioned  before, 
p.  10.  There  he  is  to  be  read  to  the  students  in  Latin 
or  English,  here  he  is  to  be  studied  in  the  original 
Greek. 

Laertins,  Diogenes  Laertius  the  author  of  a  history 
of  philosophy. 

1.  4.  those  Locrian  remnants.  This  refers  to  the  trea- 
tise ascribed  to  the  Locrian  Timaeus,  vrepi  i/o^d?  KOO-JUOU 
/ecu  ^TXTIOS.  This  was  printed  in  a  Latin  translation  by 
Valla  published  at  Venice  in  1488  and  1498  together  with 
other  similar  treatises. 

reduc't,  "brought  back." 

1.  6.     determinate,  "  certain,"  "  authoritative." 

1.  7.     evanges  =  evangels. 

1.  10.  Economics.  They  are  first  to  learn  their  duty 
to  themselves  and  then  their  duty  towards  their  neighbour. 

1.  12.  at  any  odd  hour,  as  may  easily  be  done  by 
willing  learners,  experto  crede. 

1.  15.  comedies,  pictures  of  social  life  are  to  be  intro- 
duced here,  but  only  a  selection,  and  then  with  antidote 
to  the  possible  poison  they  may  contain. 

1.  17.  Household  matters.  "Euripides  the  human 
With  his  droppings  of  warm  tears,  And  his  touches 
of  things  common,  Till  they  rose  to  touch  the  spheres." 

1.  19.  Politicks,  from  the  ordering  of  the  house,  we 
rise  to  ordering  the  state. 

1.  24.  Counsellers.  The  statesmen  of  Milton's  age 
had  a  difficult  task  in  making  up  their  minds  between 
king  and  parliament. 

P.  15,  1.  2.  Licurgus  was  the  lawgiver  of  Sparta ; 
Solon  of  Athens ;  Zaleucus  of  the  Epizephyrian  Locrians, 


38  NOTES. 

that  is,  the  Locrians  in  the  South  of  Italy ;  and 
Charandas  of  certain  cities  in  Sicily. 

1.  4.  Edicts,  the  praetor's  edict,  the  equity  of  Roman 
law.  Tables,  the  laws  of  the  XII.  tables,  Justinian  the 
emperor  was  the  great  codifier  of  Roman  law. 

1.  10.  at  a  set  hour,  not  "at  any  odd  hour"  like 
Italian. 

1.  12.     orginal  —  original. 

1.  14.  Chaldey,  a  Semitic  language  much  resembling 
Hebrew,  learnt  at  Babylon  by  the  Jews  in  the  Captivity. 
Syrian,  Aramaic,  the  ordinary  language  of  Palestine  in 
the  time  of  Christ.  We  must  observe  that  theological 
speculation  is  to  be  taught  concurrently  with  Politics,  the 
two  loftiest  subjects  which  according  to  Milton's  view 
can  occupy  the  mind. 

1.  1 6.  Histories.  Heroic  poem,  Tragedies,  and  Ora- 
tions are  an  accompaniment  to  the  study  of  Politics. 
Here  again  are  words  made  subservient  to  things. 

1.  25.  now  lastly,  style  and  composition  is  to  be 
taught  last  of  all,  the  student  is  not  to  learn  how  to  write 
until  his  mind  is  stocked  with  subjects  to  write  about. 

1.  26.  organic,  concerned  with  the  use  of  instruments, 
"  practical." 

1.  28.  mean  =  medium,  the  three  Latin  words  would 
be  grande  (or  excelsum),  medium  and  humile. 

P.  1 6,  1.  i.     so  much  as  is  useful,  only. 

1.  2.     wit  hall,  should  be  with  all. 

1.  3.  coucht,  "arranged."  Promptorium  Parvulorum, 
p.  96,  "cowchyn  or  leyne  thinges  togedyr,  colloco." 

Heads  and  Topics.  Heads  is  a  translation  of  Topics, 
Topi,  or  the  subjects  treated  of. 

1.  4.  contracted  palm.  Logic  was  compared  by 
Aristotle  and  others  to  a  close  fist,  rhetoric  to  an  open 


NOTES.  39 

palm.  Cicero  de  Finibus,  n.  6.  "  Zenonis  est,  inquam, 
hoc  Stoici;  omnem  vim  loquendi,  ut  jam  ante  Aristo- 
teles  in  duas  tributam  esse  partes,  rhetoricam  palmae, 
dialecticam  pugni  similem  esse,  dicebat,  quod  latius 
loquerentur  rhetores,  dialectici  autem  compressius." 

1.  6.  Phakreus  Demetrius  the  last  of  the  Attic 
orators  345 — 283  B.C.  Milton  probably  refers  to  the 
work  on  elocution  which  has  come  down  under  his 
name,  but  which  is  probably  not  by  him.  Hermogenes 
lived  about  180  A.  D.  and  did  all  his  work  between  the 
ages  of  17  and  25.  Five  works  of  his  are  extant  which 
form  a  complete  system  of  rhetoric. 

1.  7.  Longinus  (213 — 273  A.D.),  the  author  of  the 
well-known  treatise  on  the  Sublime ;  the  only  one  of  his 
numerous  works  which  remains  to  us. 

1.  14.     Horace,  the  ars  poetica. 

1.15.  Castelvetro.  Ludovico  Castelvetro  wrote  among 
other  works  La  Poetica  di  Aristotele  vulgarizzata  et 
sposta,  published  at  Vienna  in  1570.  See  Hallam, 
Lit.  Europe,  n.  303.  4.  Tasso,  the  well-known  Italian 
poet,  wrote  among  his  prose  works  a  discourse  upon 
epic  poetry  and  a  treatise  on  poetical  composition,  and 
further  a  dialogue  on  Tuscan  poetry.  Mazzoni's  work 
Delia  difesa  della  comedia  di  Dante  distinta  in  sette 
/i&riw&s  published  at  Cesena  in  1587 — 88.  See  Hallam, 
ii.  306. 

1.  1 8.    grand  master-piece,  the  chief  point. 

1.  21.  comm,  common,  the  on  has  dropped  out,  the 
word  perhaps  having  been  written  with  an  abbreviation. 

Play-writers.  We  must  not  forget  that  this  included 
Shakespere  and  the  writers  of  his  age. 

1.  24.     humane  =  human. 

1.  28.    fraught,  laden,  freighted  like  a  ship. 

B.  5 


4o  NOTES. 

universal,  general.  They  are  not  to  learn  how  to 
compose  until  their  minds  are  filled  with  the  things  which 
they  are  to  write  about. 

P.  17,  1.  2.      Counsel  =  council. 

1.  5.     then  =  than,  see  above  p.  26. 

1,  13.  s0...as,  a  Latin  construction  expressing  a 
limitation.  They  are  to  proceed  onward  in  their  studies 
with  this  limitation  that  they  are  occasionally  to  go  over 
old  ground. 

1.  17.  middle  ward.  Ward  is  the  same  word  as 
guard.  We  are  familiar  with  vanguard  and  rearguard  in 
English ;  a  middle  ward  =  middle  guard,  that  is  the  central 
body  of  troops  between  the  van  and  the  rear. 

1.  20.  embattelling)  ranging  in  order  of  battle.  So 
Shakespere,  Henry  V.,  iv.  2,  "  The  highest  are  em- 
battelled." 

P.  1 8,  1.  i.  ancient  and  famous  Schools.  We  know 
little  about  them. 

1.  6.  Studies,  schools  or  universities.  Cyrene.  Hero- 
dotus tells  us  of  a  school  of  physic  at  Gyrene.  Carneades 
the  founder  of  the  new  academy  came  from  this  city. 

1.  12,     the  Gown,  the  toga,  the  emblem  of  peace. 

1.  20.     use  of  their  Weapon,  fencing. 

P.  19,  1.  4.  Gripes.  The  verb  gripe  is  to  grasp, 
hold  fast;  German  greifen.  Wrastling,  the  middle 
English  for  wrestle  was  wraxlen,  wrastlen,  or  wrasklen,  or 
else  wrastle,  wraskle,  wraxle. 

1.  8.  single,  in  wrestling  they  would  contend  singly 
one  with  another.  This  is  in  contrast  to  the  combined 
military  exercises  mentioned  afterwards. 

1.  9.     unsiveating,  cooling  themselves  after  exercise. 

1.  12.     travaifd,  "wearied." 


NOTES.  41 

1.  15.  fancied,  full  of  imagination,  descant  is  the 
harmony  which  accompanies  the  plain  song  or  ground 
subject,  fugues,  compare  Paradise  Lost,  xi.  556, 

"  He  looked  and  saw  a  spacious  plain,  wherein 
Were  tents  of  various  hue  ;    by  some  were  herds 
Of  cattle  grazing  :   others,  'whence  the  sound 
Of  instrument  that  made  melodious  chime 
Was  heard,  of  harp  and  organ,  and  who  moved 
Their  stops  and  chords  was  seen:   his  volant  touch 
Instinct  through  all  proportions  low  and  high 
Fled  and  pursued  transverse  the  resonant  fugue" 

1,  1 6.  Symphony,  a  number  of  musical  sounds  har- 
monized together  either  in  the  instruments  of  an  orchestra 
or  the  stops  of  an  organ.  In  the  English  of  Milton's 
time  a  symphonist  meant  a  chorister. 

1.  21.     Ditties,  "songs." 

1.  27.     concoction,  "digestion." 

P.  20.  1.  2.     it,  i.e.  study. 

1.  17.  They  would  not  then... suffer.  My  friend 
Mr  S.  R.  Gardiner  whom  I  consulted  on  this  subject 
tells  me  that  this  passage  evidently  refers  to  Essex. 
"The  constant  diminution  of  his  army  through  1643 
from  sickness  and  desertion  was  a  constant  subject  of 
complaint,  and  there  was  information  given  to  Parliament 
in  the  end  of  that  year  of  companies  with  only  twenty 
men  in  them  near  London  amongst  those  serving  under 
Essex."  He  also  kindly  sends  me  an  extract  from  a 
despatch  of  Agostini  (the  Venetian  Secretary)  of  July  4, 
1643,  which  says  that  Essex's  army  was  greatly  diminished 
"delle  fughe  et  delle  malattie"  so  that  he  cannot  keep 
the  field  without  supply.  There  was  talk  of  deposing 
him  but  they  feared  to  do  it,  "obbligatosi  1'  Essex  i  prin- 


42  NOTES. 

cipali  commandati  suoi  con  la  propria  lautissima  mensa." 
This  seems  to  justify  "quaff  out." 

1.  23.  unrecrutible  appears  to  mean  "not  able  to 
obtain  recruits." 

1.  25.  a  delusive  list,  and  a  miserable  remnant,  of  the 
soldiers  whose  names  were  on  the  list  only  a  miserable 
remnant  really  existed. 

P.  2i,l.  15.  year  —  years.  This  was  formerly  unaltered 
in  the  plural,  representing  a  Saxon  neuter  the  same  in 
singular  and  plural. 

1.  19.     commodities,  "advantages." 

P.  22,  1.  4.  purity,  old  English  martial  prowess 
coupled  with  the  zeal  of  a  reformed  religion. 

1.  7.  slight,  here  =  vile  or  bad  just  like  its  homologue 
the  German  schlecht. 

1.  9.  Kicshoes  is  another  spelling  of  Kickshaws  which 
means  a  delicacy  or  fantastical  dish  being  derived  from 
the  French  quelque  chose. 

1.  10.  three  or  four  and  twenty.  The  grand  tour  is 
to  be  taken  at  this  mature  age^not  at  16  or  17.  Locke 
recommends  travel  at  any  early  age  or  else  deferred  until 
the  education  is  complete.  "The  time  I  should  think 
fittest  for  a  young  gentleman  to  be  sent  abroad  would  be 
either  when  he  is  younger  under  a  tutor,  whom  he  might 
be  the  better  for,  or  when  he  is  some  years  older  without 
a  governor,  when  he  is  of  age  to  govern  himself  and 
make  observations  of  what  he  finds  in  other  countries 
worthy  his  notice,  and  that  might  be  of  use  to  him  after 
his  return;  and  when  too  being  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  laws  and  fashions,  the  natural  and  moral  ad- 
vantages and  defects  of  his  own  country,  he  has  some- 
thing to  exchange  with  those  abroad,  from  whose  conver- 
sation he  hoped  to  reap  any  knowledge." 


NOTES.  43 

1.  1 8.  other  Nations.  "Italians  might  come  to 
England  for  education  as  Englishmen  now  go  to  Italy." 

1.  21.  Diet.  This  is  the  third  great  division,  and  is 
dismissed  in  a  few  lines. 

P.  23,  1.  10.     shoot  in,  we  should  say  "shoot  with." 

1.  12.  Homer  gave  Ulysses,  when  Ulysses  returned 
home  after  his  wanderings.  Penelope  offered  to  give 
her  hand  to  any  of  her  suitors  who  could  bend  the  bow 
of  Ulysses.  None  could  bend  the  bow  except  Ulysses 
himself. 

1.  14.     assay-  essay  an  attempt. 


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